The mayor of Morgantown, W.Va., who like Durham Mayor Bill Bell, is trying to convince Google that his city should become Google’s ultra-wired community, has endorsed the Bull City in its quest.
But he’s doing so reluctantly.
Bell and Mayor Bill Byrne of Morgantown, where West Virginia University is located, placed one of those “friendly wagers” on the NCAA men’s Final Four semifinal in which Duke University clobbered the Mountaineers. The bet: The mayor of the losing city would endorse the winner’s city’s application for the Google project.
Bell has received a copy of the letter of endorsement sent to Google CEO Eric Schmidt supporting Durham’s application. The letter cites Byrne’s “…enthusiastic endorsement of Durham’s Google application guaranteed pay day loans.” Byrne goes on to write, “Having made a pact with the Devils themselves, I willingly express this sentiment.”
The Morgantown mayor couldn’t resist some subliminal pitches for his own city, alluding to the “substantial creative planks” of Morgantown’s application and a sly promise that when the Mountaineers win against Duke in next year’s championship, the game ball would land in the hands of Google.
Google plans to pick one or more locations across the country, promising Internet service that’s more than 100 times faster than what most Americans currently have. Google will announce its decision by year’s end.
Colorado's construction industry joined the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and other business groups in pleading with legislative leaders to kill a handful of proposed new laws they believe will hamper job growth and stifle economic development.
Declaring that their industry faces perhaps the worst unemployment in history, representatives of a dozen organizations involved with construction and building sent a letter to state House and Senate Democratic and Republican leaders Sunday urging them to kill several measures that change regulatory control, modify business tax exemptions or change workers' compensation in Colorado.
The industry leaders said they were writing "to express our dismay over the partisan politics that seem to be dominating the agenda of this legislative session."
"As business leaders, we urge and challenge you to put aside partisan differences and take the necessary steps to ensure that [these bills] do not move forward," the letter says.
The first six of those bills also were targeted in the letter to lawmakers sent Tuesday by the Denver Metro Chamber, Colorado Concern and the Colorado Competitive Council.
Those bills are:
• Senate Bill 185, sponsored by Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, which modifies rental law to make it easier for tenants to claim a breach of contract requiring residences to be habitable.
• House Bill 1012, sponsored by Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, which limits workers’ compensation insurers’ ability to do surveillance on benefit applicants.
• House Bill 1017, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Denver, which permits voluntary rent-control agreements between local governments and private properties. The bill already has passed the House.
• House Bill 1107, sponsored by Rep quick pay day loan. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, which bars the inclusion of agricultural land in urban renewal zones, a tactic that has become more commonly used as an incentive to attract manufacturing plants.
• House Bill 1263, sponsored by Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, which caps at $250,000 the amount of each employee’s salary that a business can be count as an operating expense against its corporate income tax.
• House Bill 1269, sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, which increases the damages that can be awarded in employment discrimination lawsuits.
The new construction-industry letter adds one bill to that list: House Bill 1356, which requires state workers' compensation insurer Pinnacol Assurance to distribute surplus funds in excess of 800 percent of its risk-based capital to its policyholders.
Click here to download a copy of the letter.
Groups signing the letter are the Colorado Association of Mechanical & Plumbing Contractors, the Colorado Association of Home Builders, the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, the Colorado Contractors Association, Hispanic Contractors of Colorado, the Heating Air-Conditioning Refrigeration Professionals of Colorado, and the state or regional chapters of the American Council of Engineering Companies, the Associated Builders and Contractors, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, the National Electrical Contractors, the Independent Electrical Contractors Association and the Sheet Metal Air-Conditioning Contractors National Association.
To protect Wisconsin’s lakes, streams and rivers from phosphorus runoff beginning April 1, Wisconsin residents can no longer apply turf fertilizer that contains phosphorus to their lawns, except in limited instances, under a new law that affects retailers as well.
The restriction, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, also applies to professional lawn and landscape businesses, golf courses and municipalities.
“The new law makes it illegal for Wisconsin retailers to display turf fertilizer that is labeled as containing phosphorus or available phosphate,” said Charlene Khazae, the Department’s fertilizer program manager. Retailers can post a sign that indicates fertilizer with phosphorus is available upon request.
Fertilizer products carry three numbers that indicate the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potash in the product, commonly referred to as N-P-K no fax cash advance. The middle number, which represents the amount of phosphorus ‘P,’ should be zero.
Fertilizer that contains phosphorus can still be used in agricultural production, pastures and home gardens.
Similar restrictions already exist in places such as Dane County, some counties in Michigan and Florida and in the state of Minnesota.
Additional restrictions for all types of turf fertilizer, no matter if it contains phosphorus or not, include: no application of fertilizer can be made to frozen ground or surfaces like driveways or sidewalks
For more information about the turf fertilizer law, visit www.datcp.state.wi.us and search ‘turf fertilizer.’
The U.S. House of Representatives Sunday night is debating and voting on health-care reform.
Click here for a live web broadcast of the debate and vote from C-SPAN fast payday loan.
Gas prices have continued to creep up in Texas as well as nationally, hitting $2.68 for a gallon of unleaded regular today following four week run-up, according to AAA Texas.
In a press release, AAA Corporate Communications Manager Dan Ronan noted that the cost of filling up a typical 14-gallon tank in Texas has reached $37.
However, fears that the cost of crude could put a dent in spring break travel plans are proving unfounded, with a AAA Texas Travel poll finding that 58% of Texans plan on driving to their revelry destination.
Nearly half — 48% — of Texas spring break travelers intend to make their journey to another part of the state personal loans for people with bad credit.
In Texas, the average price for gallon of unleaded regular is up to $2.68 from $2.64, an increase of four cents. Nationally, prices increased three cents from $2.77 to $2.80. Texas continues to remain below the national average, and this week gas prices in the state are 12 cents lower than the national average, according to AAA Texas.
Data from AAA Texas showed the price of gas as of March 18 nationally at $2.80, in Dallas at $2.68 and in Fort Worth at $2.67.
Toyota’s pain is its rivals’ gain.
All major automakers but Toyota reported higher U.S. sales in February, and most took customers from their powerful Japanese competitor, which has been struggling with a series of massive safety recalls.
Toyota Motor Corp. said its U.S. sales fell 9 percent last month, while Ford, GM, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai all reported double-digit growth compared with February 2009, at the depth of the recession.
The gains may have been even higher without the blizzards that paralyzed the East Coast.
Other winners included Kia Motors Corp. and Subaru. Even struggling Chrysler Group LLC saw improvement. Toyota, by contrast, suspended sales of eight popular models in late January. And it spent last week answering questions from Congress about its safety record.
"We feel we’re getting our fair share of the Toyota business," said Susan Docherty, vice president of marketing at GM, whose sales rose nearly 12 percent.
February was the first full month since Toyota’s decision Jan. 26 to halt sales of some of its vehicles in the U.S. because of safety concerns. Those vehicles went on sale again as dealers repaired them, but Toyota’s image suffered.
Ford Motor Co. posted a 43 percent jump in February U.S. auto sales and outsold General Motors Co. for the first time in nearly a dozen years as it grabbed customers from struggling Toyota. Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U free credit report online.S. for the first time since August 1998, when GM was in the midst of a strike.
Most automakers reported that sales to rental car companies and other fleet buyers also were strong as companies began buying again after cutbacks last year. Fleet sales generally mean lower profits to automakers than sales to individuals.
Chrysler, for example, said sales rose half a percent, its first year-over-year monthly increase since December 2007. Car sales rose 38 percent, but truck sales dived 28 percent.
Hyundai Motor Co. said its sales rose 11 percent, driven by sales of the new Tucson small SUV. The company’s redesigned Sonata midsize car saw sales rise 58 percent.
The industry was expecting to see gains over February 2009, which was one of the weakest months in a very depressed year. Sales over President’s Day weekend — which traditionally kicks off the spring selling season — were robust, according to automotive website Edmunds.com.
Still, winter storms at the beginning and end of the month hurt sales on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
"Three and a half feet of snow on these cars," Docherty said. "It took our dealers a bit of time to get all that snow off here and get the customers back into the showrooms."
Owners of a Marion, Ill., golf club late last week finally got their long-awaited sit-down with U.S. Treasury officials to ask the agency to drop its objections to the club’s sale.
But Treasury did not indicate what action it might take or give a timetable, said Fritz Archerd, head of the golf owner’s group, who attended the meeting.
"There’s reason for hope. But there’s also reason for pessimism," Archerd said.
For the past 15 months, the Treasury has blocked the sale of the Kokopelli Golf Course because of the involvement of Zimbabwean national John A. Bredenkamp. He led a group that owned the golf course from 2001 to 2006. He retained a right to future profits when the course was sold again.
The problem is that Bredenkamp was named in late 2008 by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control to a list of people targeted for economic sanctions. These specially designated nationals, which include al-Qaida terrorists and drug kingpins, are prohibited from conducting any business in the U.S.
Treasury, which has declined to comment on the proceedings, accuses Bredenkamp of "gray-market arms trading and trafficking" and other endeavors to prop up Zimbabwe’s ruling regime.
Archerd said the Kokopelli investment lost about $750,000. A purchase price expected to be about $1 million would be enough to recoup that investment and pay off debt. So no profit would head to Bredenkamp if the golf club were sold to Marion-area owners quick payday loans.
Archerd said his group could no longer afford to invest in the golf club, featuring an 18-hole championship course once voted No. 3 in Illinois by Golf Week magazine. And yet, they cannot sell the course. It’s not even clear if the bank could foreclose on the property with the Treasury’s blocking order.
The plight of this golf course was the subject of a Post-Dispatch article last Sunday.
An economic sanctions attorney not involved in the case said he was surprised Treasury did not offer a solution at the sit-down meeting.
"I don’t understand why this hasn’t moved forward," said Clif Burns with Bryan Cave in Washington.
After Archerd’s meeting, the potential buyers indicated they had lost patience. Marion-area restaurateur David Hays said in a release, "We no longer are optimistic that we will see a timely solution to this dilemma."
Time — and money — does appear to be running out for Kokopelli. Staff already has been cut from 75 to one. The lawnmowers were repossessed last week, so there is no way to maintain fairways and greens. And next week the power company plans to turn out the lights.
Taiwan and Thailand exited recession last quarter and Malaysia probably followed, as Asian economies lead the global recovery.
Taiwanese gross domestic product rose 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier and the Thai economy expanded 5.8 percent, according to reports today. Malaysian figures for the three months to Dec. 31, due for release on Feb. 24, may show GDP increased 3.4 percent last quarter, according to the median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Asian economies are paving the way for a global recovery from the worst worldwide recession since the Great Depression after central banks in the region slashed interest rates to record lows and governments increased spending by more than $1 trillion. The strength of Asia’s rebound has seen policy makers lead the way in withdrawing stimulus.
“Asia’s recovery is at least two quarters ahead of the U.S. and monetary authorities have been contemplating exit strategies for some time,” said David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore. “With higher U.S. rates on the cards, Asia’s central banks can pursue their exit strategies with less to fear on the inflow and currency front.”
Policy makers in China, India and Vietnam are tightening monetary conditions amid signs that accelerating growth is fueling inflation and may led to asset bubbles. The U.S. Federal Reserve, which increased its discount rate by a quarter point to 0.75 percent on Feb. 18, has left its benchmark policy rate unchanged for more than a year.
Rising Demand
Asian stocks jumped by the most since November on speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will say in a report due to be released this week that U.S. interest rates will be kept low to spur economic growth. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 2.4 percent to 118.14 as of 2 p.m. in Tokyo, the biggest increase since Nov. 30.
The emergence of the world economy from the global recession is encouraging companies in Asia to boost production and hire more workers. Singapore last week raised its economic growth forecast for 2010, predicting an expansion of as much as 6.5 percent this year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp., the world’s largest makers of custom chips, are boosting capital spending this year after fourth- quarter profits beat analysts’ estimates.
‘Very, Very Strong’
Demand has been “very, very strong” in the computer, automotive and consumer electronics sectors over the past few quarters, Richard Han, chief executive officer of Hana Microelectronics Pcl, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Bangkok today. Hana makes parts for computers and mobile phones including Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
Taiwan’s fourth-quarter economic growth was the strongest since June 2004 and Thailand’s increase in GDP was the most in seven quarters.
China’s central bank on Feb. 12 ordered lenders to set aside larger reserves, aiming to rein in credit growth after banks extended 19 percent of this year’s 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) lending target in January and property prices climbed the most in 21 months. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects the Chinese economy will expand 11.4 percent this year.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Jan. 29 increased the cash reserve ratio to 5.75 percent from 5 percent, exceeding the median forecast for a half-point move in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. India is due to release GDP data for the December quarter on Feb. 26, along with the budget for the next fiscal year.
Emerging Asia
India’s $1.2 trillion economy may grow 7.2 percent in the current fiscal year through March, accelerating for the first time since 2007, the statistics office said Feb. 8.
“We expect GDP growth in emerging Asia to stay strong in coming quarters,” said Kevin Grice, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London. “The most trade-dependent economies will eventually see slower GDP growth later this year and in 2011 as the global upswing loses momentum. But Asia’s rebound will not come to a complete halt and growth, by some distance, will stay higher than in any other part of the world.”
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told an aid conference in Montreal that his country needs help with a “colossal” reconstruction from the Jan. 12 earthquake that left the nation in shambles.
“Haiti will need massive support in the medium and long term from its partners in the international community,” Bellerive said today at the conference attended by 20 governments and multi-lateral organizations. “The challenge will require that we do more, that we do better and certainly that we do differently.”
Aid groups called on those attending the meeting to cancel the Caribbean nation’s $890 million foreign debt. The meeting, to discuss long-term reconstruction and plan a full donor conference in March, is being hosted by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon. The U.S. is represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere before the temblor, which killed more than 150,000 people and destroyed a third of the buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The country’s infrastructure, including the water system, has collapsed and the government is unable to deliver services. Relief groups and foreign military forces are trying to reach the estimated 3 million of Haiti’s 9 million people affected by the quake.
‘Path to Development’
The donor nations’ plans must aim to “bring the country back on the path to development,” Bellerive said in a speech to the group. “Going back to the status quo ante is not an option.”
Reconstruction will have to include moving some people out of shantytowns that have overrun the capital, and fostering economic development outside Port-au-Prince, he said.
“The Haitian government is at work in precarious conditions, but it is able to provide the leadership the Haitian people expect of it in the colossal challenges on the way to development,” Bellerive said.
Most government offices and computer systems were destroyed the quake.
The U.S. has taken control of aid deliveries through Haiti’s sole international airport, and the United Nations has taken responsibility for the country’s security
Cannon said the delegates at the conference support the Haitian government’s effort to join in the reconstruction planning. Today’s meeting will help set out a “coherent” and “consistent” approach for supporting Haiti in advance of a major conference to be held in coming months.
‘Ready to Help’
“Your role is key, and your voice is clear guaranteed payday loans. We stand ready to help,” Cannon said.
Haiti’s foreign debt must be cancelled immediately, “accompanied by urgent action to support farmers and prevent a man-made food crisis exacerbating the hardship,” Oxfam Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said in an e-mailed statement.
Cancelling debt is “indispensable to help the government of Haiti marshal the most resources possible” to rebuild the country, said Eric Faustin, president of Regroupement des Organismes Canado-Haitiens pour le Developpement, a Montreal- based non-profit aid group that focuses on Haiti.
Rescuers today wound down operations seeking survivors among the wreckage, and the UN reported that security in Port- au-Prince “remains calm but fragile, with isolated instances of looting.”
More than 150,000 bodies have been buried and 200,000 residents of Port-au-Prince have left the city, the New York Times reported Jan. 23, citing Marie-Laurence Jocelynn Lassegue, Haiti’s culture and communications minister.
Aid Groups
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and UN development head Helen Clark are attending the Montreal meeting, along with representatives from the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank. Other participating nations include Japan, Mexico, Costa Rica, France and Spain.
Japan will pledge $70 million in aid at Montreal, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters today in Tokyo. The nation, which has the world’s second-biggest economy, had initially pledged $5 million, compared with the U.S. pledge of $100 million and $10 million promised by South Korea.
Japan also intends to send about 300 members of its Self- Defense Force to Haiti, serving with the UN peace-keeping troops, Hirano said.
Norway today doubled its humanitarian aid to Haiti to 200 million krone ($34 million).
Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia said they will boycott the meeting to protest the U.S. military’s presence in the Caribbean, according to the German news service Deutsche Presse Agentur.
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro wrote in the official Cuban newspaper Granma that U.S. troops have “occupied” Haiti. The U.S. bolstered its presence in the country and offshore to 11,000 soldiers and sailors last week to help provide humanitarian assistance and security.
Consumer outrage about AT&T’s 3G service for iPhones is boiling over, but the dropped calls and spotty service reflect a greater lack of foresight in the wireless industry.
Analysts say AT&T’s problems would have happened on any network that carried Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone because of the overwhelming amount of data downloaded by iPhone users. Over the past three years, AT&T’s data traffic increased 5,000% because of the iPhone.
"The challenges that AT&T has are being faced by a lot of operators around the world: Very rapidly growing usage coupled with dense populations," said Daniel Hays, wireless expert and partner at consultancy PRTM. "Would it have been different on Verizon? Probably not."
AT&T accurately states that it has the nation’s fastest 3G network but it "probably bit off more than it could chew," said Doug Helmreich, program director at consultancy CFI Group. "Now some of their customers are paying the price."
IPhone users in New York and San Francisco in particular have been up in arms about frequent service interruptions. Earlier this month, AT&T’s head of mobility, Ralph de la Vega, admitted at an investors’ conference that the company’s service in those two cities was "below our standards."
It’s not just New York and San Francisco iPhone users who are grumbling. An annual Consumer Reports study recently rated AT&T (T, Fortune 500) the worst in customer satisfaction in 19 cities across the country. (Rival Verizon Wireless rated No. 1 in the study.)
In nearly three-quarters of the surveyed areas, AT&T was rated lowest for availability of service, frequency of dropped calls and quality of voice service.
Verizon vs. AT&T
Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) has had a field day at AT&T’s expense.
"There’s a map for that" commercials have poked fun at AT&T’s smaller 3G footprint. And that has helped Verizon take market share, according to Piper Jaffray.
But studies show that AT&T’s network is actually faster than Verizon’s, and Verizon’s ad campaign may be a bit misleading.
Four recent independent studies from wireless industry analysis firms Global Wireless Solutions and Root Wireless, investment bank Piper Jaffray and tech blog Gizmodo all concluded that AT&T’s 3G network was the fastest in the United States.
"We drove millions of miles across the country, and our data support AT&T’s claim that it has the fastest 3G data network," said Global Wireless CEO Paul Carter.
The map that Verizon shows in its ads is correct, but AT&T’s 3G network still covers nearly 80% of the U.S. population, said Carter. And AT&T’s non-3G coverage is also broader than its 3G network.
With that kind of pedigree, analysts say AT&T was likely the best-equipped network to handle the iPhone.
"For Verizon … we still wonder if the network has the capacity and backhaul to support a device with an adoption curve of the iPhone," said Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen in a client note.
Perception vs. reality
AT&T admits that it has had problems keeping up with the data demands of iPhone users, which has prompted the company to accelerate scheduled improvements in its network.
"There’s more work to be done and a sense of urgency to do it, but we feel like we’re on the right track with our investments," said Fletcher Cook, spokesman for AT&T.
In the next few years, AT&T said it would double its network speed, and Cook said AT&T has already improved overall network quality by 25%. The company has also deployed more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, which it says may help alleviate stress on its 3G network.
PRTM’s Hays applauded the Wi-Fi solution and AT&T’s dedication to improving its network, calling them "critical levers in addressing AT&T’s network performance issues." He expects AT&T to go even further, perhaps by integrating tiered data plans that would force iPhone users to pay for the data they download.
Still, perception has hurt AT&T.
AT&T’s network is the No. 1 hangup for people who are in the market for an iPhone, according to a CFI Group study. The company’s woes have even become the butt of jokes on late-night TV.
"It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cell phone as a challenge to the iPhone," said "Saturday Night Live’s" Seth Meyers on Dec. 19. "Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls."
The building frustrations led some angry consumers to take matters into their own hands. "Operation Chokehold," which took place on Dec. 18, was an attempt to overload AT&T’s network by running data-intensive apps to try and send a message that consumers "are sick of their substandard network." The ploy failed.
"Unfortunately for AT&T, when it comes to network quality, perception is reality and right now Verizon has a more positive public perception," said Larsen. "If AT&T can continue to show improvement in network throughput, it may blunt some of the impact."
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