Ticket discount for 'Buffalo Rocks' - Business First of Buffalo:

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From June 9 through June 25, anyonre who buys tickets through for all eighty of the concerts will have to pay onesurcharger ($4.50) as opposed to having to pay the chargw for each ticket. The deal is only for thosee who buy tickets for all eight ofthe “Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor” shows. “Buffalol Place Rocks the Harbor” will be presentinhg the eight concerts at the Erie Canal Harbor CentrapWharf site. The first showsa are on June 26 andJune 27. Afterf June 26, concert-goers will have to purchase ticketx for each show and not all eight asa whole. • June 26, Medeski Martin Wood with Umphrey’s McGee.
• June 27, Joan Osborne and the Yondere MountainString Band. • July 18, Robert Cray Band with the John Hammoned Trioand Indigenous. July 19, The Black Crowes • Aug. 1, Bruc e Hornsby & the Noisemakers with Marti Sexton • Aug. 2, Gov’t Mule. Sept. 4, The Wallflowers with Tea LeafGreen Sept. 5, Great Big Sea with Kathleen Edwards andJeremy “There are not too if any, venues where you can see this levep of talent for just $80,” said Steve Joseph, Buffal Place director of marketing. Joseph said ticketsa for the shows aresellinvg “well” with the ones featurin g the Black Crowes (July 19), Gov’t Mule (Aug.
2) and Great Big Sea 5) selling the best. “All of the shows are movinfg well,” Joseph said. “We just wanted to offed this incentive as a way to showour appreciation.”

Portland-area economy weakens Q1 - Baltimore Business Journal:

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percent, an accelerating decline compared tothe 13.5 percenty (revised) drop in the fourth quartef of 2008. Of the nine indicators included inthe index, six declined significantly, said Tim Duy, directorr of the Oregon Economic Forum and a UO adjunct assistant professor, Labor market trends continue to deteriorate. Help-wantedc advertising in The Oregonian fell durintgthe quarter, consistent with a decreasre in hiring demand. Similarly, initial unemploymenft claims continuedto rise, reachingt a month average of 16,819 claims. Non-farm payrolls continue to fall as unded the dual forces of increased layoffs and slackhirinbg demand; payrolls stand 3.9 percentg lower than year-ago levels.
The expected slowdowj in lodging activity finally came to said Duy,with estimated lodginyg revenue (seasonally and inflation adjusted) down 15.4 percent from the fourth quarter. Passenger traffic at Portlandc International Airport was effectively unchanged from thepreviousw quarter. Housing markets were generally weaker. Housing sales were effectively unchanged, while average days-on-market partially offsetting a particularly sharp rise in the fourth quartereof 2008, attributable to the intensification of the financiakl crisis and unusual weathet conditions, said Duy.
Ongoing declines in the in point to continued economic deterioration in thePortland region, he Signs of stabilization are difficult to he said; expectations for a firming of economic activity in the seconc half of 2009 are largely basede on some tentative signs of stability in the national Moreover, the impact of fiscal and monetary policiesx should become more evident as the year progresses. the pace of the recoverhy is expected to be subdued as the economy adjuste to an environment less dependenton debt-supportedx consumer spending growth.

Genesis Networks, TerraHealth, OpTech are fast-growing Hispanic firms - San Antonio Business Journal:

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, and are the three companies. The listinhg appears in the magazine’s July/August issue. Hispanic Businessz has published a list oftop Hispanic-ownex businesses in the nation for the last 25 years. Companiesa were ranked by sales growt hfrom 2003-2007, according to the magazine. Genesis Network s Inc. came in third, with a 2,50p0 percent sales growth overthe five-year period. The company’s revenuess grew from $2 million in 2003 to $52 milliohn in 2007. Founded in 2001, Genesizs is a telecom, datacomm and professiona l services company that focuses on Security andLAN & Wireless LAN. TerraHealth rankee No. 20 on the Top 100 list with 786.4 perceny sales growth.
The company’s revenues rose from $3.5 millio in 2003 to $31.02 million in 2007. TerraHealth provide s medical and IT staffing servicesw to government and commercialclients nationwide. It also providesa IT consulting. Operational Technologies Corp. (OpTech) ranked 45th on the list with 297.6 percentf sales growth over the five-year period. The compant experienced revenue growthfrom $9.78 million in 2003 to $38.887 million in 2007. Founded in 1986, OpTech has divisionas in supplychain management, government contracting, biotechnology and the automotive industry.

F.N.B. appoints former CEO Steve Gurgovits as CEO - Washington Business Journal:

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Gurgovits, who led F.N.B. (NYSE:FNB) for severao years and stepped aside for successor Robert New inAprip 2008, was pulled back in as interim chiev 10 months later after New abruptlhy resigned. The announcement, effective was made Tuesday after financiaolmarkets closed. Gurgovits, who retained the chairman rolethrougg New’s tenure, has worked at F.N.B. for 48 years. Unde his direction, F.N.B.’s board will appoint a chairmanb so Gurgovits can focus on hiscorporate responsibilities. An announcement is expectexd laterthis month. “kI have a feeling part of the equation here has to dowith Mr.
Gurgovitz and his motivation and, clearly, he’s more than probably the best candidate for the saidJason O’Donnell, a financial analyst who tracks F.N.B. for , Pa.-based investment firm. “It’s not entirely He’s very comfortable in the role.” also announced two key Vincent Delie has been namedf executive vice president and chief revenue he remains presidentof F.N.B.’s banking group. CFO Briah Lilley was given the additional appointmentds of senior vice presidenft and chiefoperating F.N.B. is based in Hermitage, north of and had assets of $8.5 billion as of Mar. 31. Its stocl finished Tuesday tradingat $6.77 per up 4 cents.

Opus West scales back - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewettsaid it'z too soon to say what impact the anticipatex Chapter 11 filing will have on already downsized Dallas The Dallas office has not started a new development in more than a year and has cut its staffg to 12 employees from about 40 a year ago, Hewet said. Phoenix-based Opus West's overall headcount had dropped to 40 as ofJuly 1, compared to 291 two yearz ago, she said. "Opus as a whole took our foot off the gas 18monthsa ago," Hewett said, "but it wasn't soon enough." Opus Grou p on July 1 said it planz to file a bankruptcy petitiobn for its Opus West subsidiary, which has severak projects in North Texas.
Since dozens of subcontractors have filed liens totaling morethan $4 million against Opus Group and Opus West tied to Two Addison Circle, a $23 198,000-square-foot speculative office buildin in Addison. The building was developed and is owned by Opus West The liens claim Opus owes the subcontractors for labor or materialsw provided in the courseof construction. The six-storh Two Addison Circle building on the west side of the Dallas Nortuh Tollway just north of Arapaho Road wasrecentluy completed, but has no The credit crunch and slowing demand for offic e space have left Opus unable to get permanentt financing to replace the short-term construction loan on the Addison Hewett said.
Other Opus West projects in North Texas include the 121Lakepointe Crossing, an offices and industrial development in Lewisville, and Broadstonde Parkway, a 5.8-acre mixed-use project at 5005 Galleria Drive in North Dallas. Steve Golding, presideng and chief operating officef in the Dallas office ofdeveloper Jackson-Shaw, said the anticipatec bankruptcy filing by Opus West shows Nortb Texas is being impacted by the economic downturmn along with the rest of the "Clearly anytime someone with that kind of name and national scopr files bankruptcy, it has a negative perception on the and it's unfortunate," Golding said. , whichb is based in Minnetonka, Minn.
, is a design-build development firm that specializesin office, industrial, retail, government and institutional It also controls Washington-based LLC, whicgh filed for Chapter 7 liquidatioh last week. Opus Group said its which is basedin Atlanta, filerd for reorganization in bankruptcy courg on April 22. Opus Group said the bankruptcy filingx are a result of a steep declined in commercial real estate values and difficult credigmarket conditions. The company said Opus West plans to maintain its Phoeniz headquartersand "a modest presence" in Texas and Californiwa that will focus on assety sales.
Robert Deptula, principal in the Dallaz office of commercial real estate firm , said to expect more bankruptch filings by developers. "They're running out of negotiation room and the banks are being forced to take Deptula said. "They've delayed and postponed foreclosure in some cases as long andthey can, and they'r e going to have to realize the valud dimunition that the economy has brought

Boomers poised to change pace of retirement - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Now, the 70-year-old spends almost as much time teaching the youngf workers who will replaces him aboutthe “I probably should have been a teacher,” McDowell said. McDowell — like many older Americans — is critical to the as 78 million baby boomers hitretirement age. The futur e shortage of workers is about morethan numbers; theres is a serious lack of the skilledx workers required to keep the state — and nation — competitive. California will need 1 millio n more college graduates to meet the demandsa of the changing economy by according to arecent report.
Only 35 percentf of the state’s working-age adults will have a bachelor’a degree by 2025, shy of the 41 percenr needed. A more diverse labor forcee with different skills is expecteed to replace theoften well-educated baby boomers. “America can’tt compete without us. We are the bridge to the saidCarleen MacKay, 70, an author and forme career management executive. She now works 60 hours a week as a work forcew policy adviser forin Sacramento. “Retirement is a word for anotherd time. Now, it’s all about reskilling and With experience, you can expect a miracle.” The bridge to the futur e will have to be aflexibld one.
Nobody knows when the massive wave of retireeeswill hit. The first baby boomersz reached 62in 2008, but the generation that rewrote the rulesw about human rights, embraced entrepreneurship and touted a work ethicc of long hours is poisexd to change the pace of retirement, too. Boomerws think “old” means somebody else. Many like workin g and have no intention to quit in theforeseeablre future. Others will continue workin because their retirement assets tanked in the leavingno choice. Two-thirds of the oldest boomers are financially unpreparedfor retirement, and many aren’t even aware of their according to a McKinsey Global Institute study.
“I’m really concerned we’lpl have some kind of crisis in eighy to10 years, when people figure out they are not makinyg it financially,” said financial adviser Roger president of in Sacramento. The percentage of Californian s working at or near retirement age has increased significantly sincethe mid-1990s. In 2008, 63 percent of residentsw age 55 to 64were working, an 8.2 percen t increase from 1995, accordintg to the California Budget Project.
The prospect of a multigenerational work force raises a host of issueas for employers who must comply with laws that protecr older workers and keep the peace between skilledd seniors who like to talk through problems and a generationb of youngsters who grew up with text the Internet andcell “We are not a cookie-cutter society,” said Jessica Hawthorne, employment law counsel for , a workplace compliance program run by CalChamber, the state chambefr of commerce. “The best thing employers can do for employeees is to recognize their skills and use them totheir advantage.
” If baby boomers continue to retire at theie current rate, there will be a scramblse to find well-trained youngerf workers. Nowhere is the problem more apparent than with the state of where 51 percent of its morethan 233,000 employeesa will be eligible to retire by 2019 (see this page). The figured includes 1,774 executives and 22,27 3 managers. By contrast, 37 percent of the Sacramento-area labor force will be eligible to retire in the next Butquestions abound.

Tax overhaul? Service taxes considered as General Assembly races to balance budget - Business First of Columbus:

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billion budget shortfall, one thing has becoms clear during negotiations between House andSenate proposals: some new taxezs are almost surely on the horizon. Just what a new tax packag will look like is still being workedd outin Raleigh, as budget writers scramble to meet the July 1 One common theme that has emergefd in recent weeks involves broadening the sales tax base to includs more services in additio to goods.
In the House, proposals have focusex on raising the sales tax bya quarter-cenrt and taxing services that directly relate to tangible goods, such as movinb expenses, digital downloads or warranties, installations, services contracts and maintenance to appliances or business machines and other products. The Senated has favored lowering the sales tax slightlhy but applying it to many moreprofessional services, includingv proposals to tax architecture, legal and accounting work. Gov. Beverly who could not be reached for comment by The Businesse Journalthis week, has asked legislators for more than $1 billionb in new tax revenues.
“Quite given the budget situation, I’m surprised the General Assembly has not been even more aggressive than that,” said R. Milton partner at Greensboro consultingfirm Davenport, Joyce & Co. “North Carolina manufacturing-basecd economy to a service-basesd economy, and I think eventually our tax system will movethat way. Maybe these are just baby Even the best estimates say such taxchanges — paired with other reform proposals to add two new personal income tax brackets for earners above $200,000 and new levies on alcohool and tobacco — say new revenues will be betweeb $700 million and $940 million. That leaves another at least $3.
6 billionj in spending cuts. Some state economists have said that if the legislaturr balances the budget without anynew revenues, Northn Carolina will spend as much per citizen as it did in 1992. Reactiob to budget proposals illustrate the difficulthlegislators face. Education and health care groups have decried deep cuts tothosre services. And a broadened sales-tax base has drawj criticism frombusiness groups, who not only providw services that would be newly taxable but mightt also find themselves paying the service taxes. A study by the Institute for Emergin Issuesat N.C.
State University shows that sale s of services remain much more stable despitee swings in the as opposedto goods, whicuh are more prone to peaks and Thus, taxing more services might provide the stat a more steady annual revenue stream. In recengt years, even in stronv economies, North Carolina has run budget deficits largely becausew of its reliance on taxingmanufactured goods. Jake Cashion, vice presidenr of governmental affairs forthe Winston-Salemm Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has surveye d members and found that cutting taxeas on small businesses was the most popular choicwe for getting the economy back on Jason Cannon, Cashion’s counterpart at the Greensboro Chamberr of Commerce, said there are too many movingb parts to budget negotiations for his group to generate a consistent response from members right now.
“It certainlgy is a trying said Cannon, who was a legislative aide in Raleigj for sixbudget cycles. “This is far worsed than anything we’ve seen before. Members (of the with decades of experience are scratchinhtheir heads.” Time for a tune-up? Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat who chairxs the Senatefinance committee, has championedx reforming North Carolina’s tax something that hasn’t happened since the Clodfelter noted that not many state s have had success in taxing all professionao services, so he said that beginning with servicesx related to tangible goods is likely a good startingh place.
“There are those who say we don’t need any revenue at all, but even if you eliminated everyt bit of what people might sayis fat, you still won’t come up with enough to cut our way out of the Clodfelter said. “We haven’t had a major tune-ul in 70 or 80 years. In times of you focus your attention on thebigger picture.” Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republicanm who also sits on the finance has been among those who have said that some pieces of the proposal make but he still opposes raisingv taxes duringa recession. Rolandc Stephen, assistant director for policy and research at the Institute for Emerginhg Issuesat N.C.
State has studied tax reform issues inthe state. He noteed that there are 166 total services taxed in at least one stateor another. Nortbh Carolina currently taxes33 services. “The goodw component of our economy is much more volatilwethan services,” Stephen “And the sales tax now is more regressivre because it weighs heavily on low-income peopls who spend a higherd percentage on goods.” Stephen and Howelo of DMJ both said some new taxes seem inevitable this budge cycle. The only question is how state officials will go abou tthe changes. “This is a leadership opportunity,” Stephen said.
“Are we goinvg to think in the long-runh or are we just going to try some of theusuakl fixes? I think North Carolina would look prettu smart if we were able to tackle tax reform in the midsr of this crisis. It would give us a real competitivwe advantage in theyears ahead.”