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September 2011 - Posts
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 Medical errors and inferior care that force patients to repeatedly return to the hospital for care are costing Americans billions in unnecessary health care costs, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday.
“One of the biggest challenges that we have in our nation is a fragmented and broken health care system that often has uneven results for patients, and costs continue to rise year in and year out,” Sebelius said during a visit to Truman Medical Center-Hospital Hill...
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The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday certified a class-action lawsuit against a Leawood company accused of sending junk faxes.
Taranto Group Inc., which distributes and resells medical devices, allegedly sent about 120,000 unsolicited advertising faxes through two outside vendors to medical offices from 2005 to 2008.
Critchfield Physical Therapy, based in Montgomery City, Mo., filed suit in Johnson County on behalf of the recipients, seeking to recover damages for an unknown number of medical professionals...
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 Dairy Farmers of America Inc. is a target of a class-action lawsuit alleging that dairy companies fixed the price of milk by slaughtering cows.
The suit, filed this week in federal court in California, alleges that members of the dairy trade group Cooperatives Working Together — of which DFA is a member — killed more than 500,000 cows between 2003 and 2010 to reduce the supply of milk and inflate its price.
CWT members produce almost 70 percent of the milk consumed in the United States, according to a release from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, the Seattle-based law firm that filed the suit...
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 A Lee’s Summit-based animation company has signed on to produce backgrounds for a new FX show, “Unsupervised.”
Trinity Animation, 672 S.E. Bayberry Lane, Suite 101, Lee’s Summit, will design the background animation for the show, to be scripted by three writers from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The 13-episode series will begin in January.
“Unsupervised” will be paired with “Archer,” which is in its third season and also uses Trinity for its backgrounds. Both shows’ foreground characters are animated by Floyd County Productions in Atlanta...
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AT&T Inc. has filed a motion in federal court to dismiss a Sprint Nextel Corp. lawsuit seeking to block AT&T’s planned purchase of T-Mobile USA Inc.
Soon after the U.S. Department of Justice started a legal process to stop the $39 billion acquisition on antitrust grounds, Overland Park-based Sprint (NYSE: S) followed with a lawsuit containing similar allegations.
AT&T (NYSE: S) had a Friday deadline to file the dismissal motion. The filing was no surprise — AT&T attorneys had stated publicly that they didn’t want Sprint’s case to interfere with the department’s case and that they would ask the court to toss Sprint’s allegations...
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Sprint Nextel Corp.’s coming push-to-talk service could address demand, but don’t expect it to pose a big threat to the existing licensed mobile radio industry, a new study suggests.
A recent survey of 400 licensed mobile radio (LMR) decision-makers in the United States showed that most of them were using cellular services and would value the addition of a good push-to-talk service. English company IMS Research, an independent market research firm for the global electronics industry, conducted the study...
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The Kansas City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution to proceed with applying for at least $7.5 million in Missouri tax credits to assist with the West Edge redevelopment.
Now, an application is due before the Missouri Development Finance Board, which will decide whether to award the tax credits through the state Tax Credit for Contribution Program. The application for tax credits is listed on the MDFB’s Tuesday agenda.
The arrangement essentially would make Kansas City the owner of the West Edge parking garage and help developer Caymus Real Estate LLC redevelop the project to make room for Polsinelli Shughart PC’s new headquarters...
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 Airlines have canceled more flights at Kansas City International Airport during the first seven months of 2011 than they did in all of 2010, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
In 2010, 654 of the 50,270 total flights out of KCI (Code: MCI) were canceled. From January to July of this year, 692 flights have been canceled.
CHART: See how KCI cancellations split out by airline in the chart below
And cancellations may keep soaring.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that based on data gathered through September, airlines have been canceling flights faster than in any year since 2001...
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 Todd Schulte’s foray into the Kansas City restaurant scene started with a boring job selling fish and a conversation about how he would put his two young daughters through college.
He’d heard about a guy in Austin, Texas, who made soup and delivered it to customers via bicycle. The cycling part sounded less than appealing to Schulte, but soup was right up his alley — he’d cooked in Maryland, the island of St. Thomas and Florida before landing in Kansas City. And returning to the stove sounded better than his current gig selling fish...
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I love Johnson County voters. They are very smart and they get it. They, once again, renewed my faith in their heads and their hearts Tuesday night.
After months of wailing and gnashing of teeth by the Charter Commission (which is examining Johnson County government) and a list of proposals that would gut this county, the citizens stepped up and said: “Enough! Leave it alone; it works. Our elected officials are not corrupt and if we don’t like them, we can vote them out. Everything is not a conspiracy...
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An al Qaeda leader high on the U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists has been killed in Yemen, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The death of Anwar al-Awlaki is another big strike against the al Qaeda terrorist group after Osama bin Laden’s assassination this year. Details about the attack that killed Awlaki or involvement of U.S. military assets were not yet clear, the report said. But U.S. military and intelligence officials and Yemen officials had been seeking al Qaeda figures in that country...
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Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he has found mistakes in finance reports filed by his campaign last year, the Lawrence Journal World reports.
It’s the second time in less than three years that questions have been raised about finance reports from political organizations led by Kobach. The most recent could bring a $5,000 fine for his campaign treasurer, the report said.
Mistakes included $35,000 in contributions and $42,000 in spending, the report said. Kobach’s campaign filed corrected reports on Tuesday...
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Mestizo by Aarón Sánchez is looking to hire more than 65 people for its new location at Park Place in Leawood, starting Oct. 5. The restaurant is slated to open the last week of October.
“Leawood is a great location for Mestizo,” Aarón Sánchez, celebrity chef and Food Network personality, said in a written statement. “Its pedestrian-friendly corridors and shops, the wonderful fountains and public spaces, and the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses made this a good place to open the Mestizo concept...
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 Redeemer Fellowship Church in Kansas City has bought the former Katz Drugstore in Westport at auction.
Financial terms of the purchase of the vacant and historic drugstore at 3948 Main St. were not disclosed, and a sale price has not yet been recorded in Jackson County land records.
The church bought the building from Krazy Katz Investments LLC, a company controlled by developer Brent Lambi.
The sale closed on Sept. 21.
The church said it will use the space to host religious and secular community events...
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 Kansas City is the ninth-best U.S. metropolitan area in which to spend your golden years, according to a new ranking.
The top retirement spot is Minneapolis, followed by Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Denver.
A May study, conducted for the Bankers Life and Casualty Co. Center For a Secure Retirement, formed the list using several weighted factors tied to senior issues and gerontology. Broad categories included health care, economy, health and longevity, social, environment, spiritual life, housing, transportation and crime...
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Gladstone is stirring up a fresh way to add new flavor to its downtown, formulating an incubator-type concept aimed at an unlikely industry.
The Gladstone Restaurant Program will offer as much as 5,000 square feet in the city’s Downtown Village Center to a restaurateur who wants to create a destination-style eatery. The city will help develop the concept and building and offer reduced rent at 504 N.E. 70th St. in the Gladstone 18 building.
Melinda Mehaffy, economic development administrator for Gladstone, said the project was part of a much larger endeavor in downtown Gladstone’s Village Center, which has 325,000 square feet of possible commercial, real estate and business office space...
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 H&R Block Inc. is discontinuing its ExpressTax brand, which has 269 franchise offices and brought H&R Block $3 million in royalty fees during its most recent fiscal year.
The Kansas City-based tax preparer (NYSE: HRB) will invite many ExpressTax franchisees to switch over to the H&R Block brand, the company said Thursday. Together, the ExpressTax franchise offices prepared almost 100,000 tax returns in fiscal 2011, which ended April 30.
“This move is consistent with where we want to focus our future investments and resources,” H&R Block CEO Bill Cobb said in a release...
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After a record-breaking year for storm and crop damage, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger says insurance estimates totaled $1.095 billion through August, the Kansas City Business Journal reports. The previous record for the state was $700 million, and Praeger noted that three months still remain in 2011.
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The Obama administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review health care reform legislation during its next term, The New York Times reports, which would mean a decision in the middle of the 2012 campaign.
In addition, 26 state attorneys general, including Kansas’ Derek Schmidt, have joined to ask the court to review an appeals court decision that found the insurance mandate provision unconstitutional, the South Florida Business Journal reports.
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The Kansas City school board voted 7-1 to give Airick Leonard West his old job back, The Kansas City Star reports.
Wednesday's vote comes after a tumultuous past month that saw the district lose its superintendent and its accreditation.
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The number of online job ads for the Kansas City metro area ticked up ever so slightly in September, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The Conference Board data show 34,800 online ads by local employers this month, up from 34,200 in August and 30,000 in September 2010. The number of new job listings also increased from the previous month.
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General Motors executives told analysts Wednesday that the company’s new four-year deal with the United Auto Workers will have little effect on the bottom line and allow workers to share in GM’s financial success, The New York Times reports.
The new contract will cover UAW workers at GM's Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kan. Ford Motor Co. continues to negotiate with the union for a new contract covering its workers, including employees at Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo.
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The number of online job ads for the Kansas City metro ticked up in September, according to data from The Conference Board.
Local employers had a total of 34,800 job ads online, up from 34,200 last month and from 30,000 a year ago, the nonprofit’s Help Wanted OnLine Data Series showed.
Of those ads, 24,000 were new, compared with 23,500 last month and 18,300 last year.
The Kansas City area could use more jobs — the latest unemployment data, released Wednesday, showed that the metro area's August jobless rate rose by 0...
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 Kansas has seen a record-breaking year for storm and crop damage, and even people far from the mayhem may feel the pain in their wallets.
Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger said in a Wednesday release that insured property and crop damage estimates in the state totalled $1.095 billion through the end of August. That figure was based on 197,000 claims.
Praeger said the previous record of $700 million was set in 1992.
“We still have the rest of 2011 to go,” she said.
More than half of the damage, or $502...
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Kansas City officials are trying to quickly advance a proposal to get Missouri tax credits for the West Edge redevelopment in case those credits are eliminated.
State legislators might get rid of the program through which the building’s developer hopes to get the credits.
Kansas City is applying on behalf of Caymus Real Estate LLC to the Missouri Development Finance Board for at least $7.5 million in tax credits through the Tax Credit for Contribution Program.
Caymus seeks the tax break to defray the cost associated with the estimated $75 million demolition and rebuilding of the office portion of the West Edge project...
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 The Missouri General Assembly needs to move ahead or end a special session aimed at passing a jobs bill, Gov. Jay Nixon said Wednesday.
The jobs package has languished amid lawmaker disputes, which Nixon said comes at a price.
“The General Assembly has been in special session for more than three weeks, at a cost to taxpayers of approximately $170,000,” Nixon said in a written statement. “It’s time for the House and the Senate to resolve their differences and get a fiscally responsible jobs bill on my desk, or to bring this special session to a close...
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Alliant Techsystems Inc. has received a contract worth at least $58.7 million to provide the U.S. Army with ammunition.
The contract was awarded to Alliant Techsystems’ Integrated Weapons Systems Division in Mesa, Ariz., but the 20-millimeter training rounds will be produced at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence. That plant is managed by ATK Small Caliber Systems, a division of Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK).
The contract includes production of standard target practice rounds; target-practice tracers; semi-armor piercing, high-explosive incendiaries; and linkages, which hold ammunition on a belt to be fed into a gun...
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The Kansas City-area economy could limp through the rest of this year but experience a rebound during the next two, according to the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Economic Forecast. However, an alternate prediction envisions a second recession.
Next year, Kansas City could add 19,100 jobs and the following year almost double that amount, according to a best-case forecast. For employees, that could mean fatter paychecks.
But a second recession scenario has the local economy slipping into a three-quarter recession, starting in the fourth quarter of this year, and slowly recovering during the second half of 2012...
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Startup Weekend, an entrepreneurial development network that’s become popular in the technology community, is partnering with Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on a new venture.
The new Startup Foundation — helped by an undisclosed amount of Kauffman Foundation financing — will research certain cities to identify influential leaders, programs and gaps in community resources, Kauffman announced Tuesday. The Startup Foundation also will support local entrepreneurial initiatives...
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The Mid-America Regional Council has received more than $700,000 in federal grants to reduce tobacco use, encourage healthier eating and exercise, and increase use of preventative health care.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the five-year award of $705,704. MARC said in a Wednesday release that the money would go to the public health departments for Jackson County, Kansas City and Independence.
Part of a $103 million round of preventative grants to 61 states and communities, the money is aimed at improving overall health and reducing chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease...
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 Tom Hoenig on Wednesday, in one of his last appearances as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, urged local and national leaders to think long term about the economy and advocated the end of Kansas City’s earnings tax.
The oft-controversial Hoenig steps down Friday as he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65. Esther George will succeed him.
In his address to the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Hoenig didn’t discuss future plans, saying only that he will take a vacation and worry about what to do next when he returns...
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 Shovels full of Legos marked the first step in piecing together a new Kansas City attraction at the Wednesday morning groundbreaking for the planned Legoland Discovery Center at Crown Center.
Local project players and officials expressed hopes that the $15 million attraction, coupled with an aquarium set to open next door, will bring new visitors to the Crown Center district.
PHOTOS: View the slide show at the right to see the groundbreaking and new renderings
“When this opens, it will solidify Crown Center as the Midwestern family destination,” said Bill Lucas, president of Crown Center Redevelopment Corp...
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 Unemployment improved in most metro areas last month — but not in Kansas City.
The metro’s jobless rate rose to 8.7 percent, compared with 8.4 percent in July, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That put Kansas City among 84 of 372 metro areas to see unemployment climb in August.
The comparable national jobless rate was 9.1 percent in August.
The number of jobless workers in Kansas City rose to 90,600, compared with 88,800 in July. Meanwhile, the civilian labor force shrunk to nearly 1...
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Oil prices are heading for the biggest quarterly decline since 2008, Bloomberg reports.
Fuel demand is expected to drop as the U.S. economy slows and Europe’s debt crisis further cripples consumer confidence overseas.
Oil futures slipped as much as 2.1 percent after posting the biggest gain in four months Tuesday.
Oil prices have dropped 12 percent since the end of June, the biggest quarterly loss since the last three months of 2008.
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President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan would help stave off a double-dip recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg.
The White House submitted the legislation to Congress this month.
The 32 economists surveyed said if passed, the measures would increase gross domestic product by 0.6 percent next year and add or keep 275,000 workers on payrolls. The program also would lower the jobless rate by .2 percentage point in 2012, economists said...
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Sporting Innovations, a new company focused on providing services and software for the sports entertainment industry, plans to spend roughly $16 million to renovate the former Hanna Rubber Co. building in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District.
Sporting Innovations is a venture formed by the same people who own Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City. It expects to have between 20 and 30 employees and share the six-story building at 1511 Baltimore Ave. with other business ventures.
Al Figuly, executive director of the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority, said representatives of Sporting Innovations made no official requests, though they gave the PIEA board a preliminary presentation about the plans...
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The Kansas City Business Journal compiles extensive research about local companies, ranking them based on various factors. Each week, we feature online the top five in each category from the latest list (the full lists are for subscribers only).
Check out some of our recent lists:
Sept. 23: Stock brokerage firms
Sept. 16: Independent insurance agencies
Sept. 9: Computer networking companies
Sept. 2: Accounting firms
Aug. 26: Women-owned businesses
Aug. 19: General contractors
Aug. 12: Manufacturers
Aug...
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The Treasury Department is a few months away from launching the Do Not Pay list, which agencies will use to confirm that companies are eligible to receive federal dollars before awarding them a contract.
Jeff Zients, the chief performance officer at the Office of Management and Budget, provided the update on the tool's launch in his blog Friday, which touted progress by the Obama administration in reducing the amount of improper payments made by federal agencies.
"The Treasury Department is well on its way to setting up the Do Not Pay List that the vice president announced last summer," he wrote...
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 A new hardware store, Northern Tool + Equipment, is drilling its way into the Kansas City area, planning a grand opening Saturday for its Lenexa location.
The 11,000-square-foot store, 12120 W. 95th St., is the chain’s first in the metro area and its second in Kansas after a location in Wichita. It offers more than 7,000 products for tool-lovers, including pressure washers, trailer parts and lawn mowers.
The store had its soft opening in mid-September. It employs four full-time and four part-time workers...
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 Freight levels for U.S. trucking companies continued to decline in August but by a much smaller amount than in recent months, according to the latest data from the American Trucking Associations.
The trade group’s truck tonnage index decreased 0.2 percent last month after declining a revised 0.8 percent in July. ATA’s advance seasonally adjusted index of for-hire truck tonnage initially showed a 1.3 percent drop in July.
The index now stands at 114.4, down from 114.6 in July. The year 2000 equals 100 on the index...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp. will make a key move this weekend toward phasing out its Nextel-branded network.
The Overland Park-based wireless carrier (NYSE: S) is set to launch a next-generation push-to-talk service on Sunday. The updated platform, Sprint Direct Connect, is revamped with broadband data capabilities and higher data speeds.
Sprint also plans to expand its push-to-talk coverage area early next year. It expects Sprint Direct Connect’s coverage area to match the CDMA (Sprint network) voice coverage area, making it nearly three times larger than the coverage area of Nextel’s iDEN network...
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 The University of Kansas Medical Center’s Bioscience & Technology Business Center officially opened its doors Tuesday, looking to attract more life sciences-based startups.
A group of university administrators and researchers, as well as Kansas City-area bioscience industry leaders, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the business incubator, which is in the remodeled Breidenthal Hall at 2002 W. 39th Ave. in Kansas City, Kan.
The center actually began operating in the spring, housing three companies that employ a total of 11 people, while final touches were made to the facility...
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 It’s Groupon but with a charitable bent.
The daily deals giant’s philanthropic group, the G-Team, is expanding into the Kansas City area this week, offering local organizations a new way to reach volunteers and donors.
It’s also moving into the Lawrence-Topeka region; Madison, Wis.; and St. Louis.
G-Team gears campaigns toward organizations’ specific needs in the fashion of a Groupon — the fundraiser is on only if enough people agree to participate.
“We’re thrilled to bring this entirely new way of fundraising to four new markets this week,” Patty Huber, director of G-Team, said in a written statement...
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 Kansas City’s Sprint Center is sold out for Tuesday night’s National Hockey League preseason faceoff between the Los Angeles Kings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sprint Center’s seating capacity for hockey is 17,544, and the sold-out game will set the attendance record for an NHL preseason game played at a non-NHL venue in North America.
“Selling out the NHL preseason game is an accomplishment that the entire region can be proud of and celebrate,” Sprint Center General Manager Brenda Tinnen said in a release...
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Missouri remains the 18th-largest state in terms of population, and Kansas holds steady at the 33rd spot, according to a blog affiliated with the Kansas City Business Journal.
The analysis by On Numbers predicts that on Oct. 1, Missouri will have a population of 6,044,171, up 48,000 residents from the U.S. Census Bureau’s official April 2010 count. Kansas’ population is estimated to hit 2,885,706 — up 32,000 residents since the last official count
Both state's rankings remained unchanged from 2010 to 2011...
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A government report finds that Freddie Mac used a flawed analysis when it accepted $1.35 billion from Bank of America to settle claims that the bank misled it about loans purchased during the mortgage boom, the New York Times reports.
The oversight report, scheduled for release Tuesday, said the flawed methodology likely increased probable losses in Freddie Mac’s loan portfolio.
The inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie Mac, prepared the report. The report also noted that Freddie’s settlement with Bank of America was completed over objections of a senior examiner at the agency.
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YRC Worldwide Inc. has named two new division presidents and eliminated four top-level positions as part of a reworking of its organizational structure intended to make the business more effective and efficient.
The Overland Park-based trucking company (Nasdaq: YRCW) announced Monday that Jeff Rogers has been promoted from president of its regional Holland carrier to that of its national YRC Inc. division. Rogers will be succeeded as Holland president by Mike Naatz, formerly chief customer officer of YRC Worldwide...
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 This year’s fall crop of associates and other new hires is settling in at Kansas City law firms.
Josh Fisher’s new job as an associate at Bryan Cave LLP may give him less time for a side project that has garnered national attention. While in law school at the University of Minnesota, he created DodgerDivorce.com to follow and report on the divorce of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, a messy proceeding that has threatened to sink the team.
Fisher’s legal analysis of the divorce and resulting bankruptcy made him a widely cited expert on the topic and led to a writing gig for ESPN...
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 The Kansas City Council this week will consider a resolution about seeking at least $7.5 million in Missouri tax credits to help with redevelopment of the West Edge project.
If approved, a resolution sponsored by Mayor Sly James would authorize City Manager Troy Schulte to ask the Missouri Development Finance Board to help finance reconstruction of the never-completed West Edge project as the new headquarters for Kansas City law firm Polsinelli Shughart PC.
Kansas City is applying on behalf of West Edge developer Caymus Real Estate LLC, a requirement under MDFB guidelines; the city has no direct financial contribution for this particular tax credit...
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 Missouri’s 13 community and technical colleges have received a $20 million federal grant to train as many as 4,600 people for careers in health care.
Gov. Jay Nixon announced the MoHealthWINS (Missouri Health Workforce Innovation Networks) program Monday, saying the money would be aimed at training unemployed adults for jobs such as medical equipment maintenance, licensed practical nurse or pharmacy technician.
Nixon said in a release that the program is health care-based because that is a targeted industry by the Missouri Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth and is considered a source of immediate and long-term jobs...
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Sprint Nextel Corp. is eyeing business from utilities as it rolls out new smart-grid offerings.
On Monday, Sprint (NYSE: S) announced that it had partnered its wireless network and machine-to-machine knowledge with Neptune Technology Group Inc., a Tallassee, Ala., digital power meter-maker.
The companies said Neptune’s automated metering infrastructure and automated meter reading systems now are available with Sprint’s 3G network.
Smart-grid technology involves digital power meters and other data-rich systems that help manage electricity and water more efficiently...
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 Sporting Kansas City’s ownership group on Tuesday will launch a new company called Sporting Innovations, providing services and software for the sports entertainment industry.
Sasha Victorine, director of business development for Sporting Innovations, said Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., has drawn attention as one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in the world, bringing Sporting Kansas City — the Major League Soccer team that plays there — lots of inquiries from professional sports teams...
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 Seasons 52 is looking to hire more than 100 employees for its new Country Club Plaza location, starting Monday.
“Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza is a natural fit for Seasons 52,” Seasons 52 President Stephen Judge said in a written statement. “Its pedestrian-friendly corridors and shops, the wonderful fountains and public spaces, and the culturally rich neighborhoods all around it provide the lifestyle environment that is compatible to the Seasons 52 concept of living well.”
The new restaurant — the concept’s first in Missouri or Kansas — will open at 340 Ward Parkway in Kansas City on Nov...
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 Overland Park Regional Medical Center is getting a new CEO, part of a round of executive musical chairs at several area hospitals
The HCA Midwest Health System on Monday announced that Damond Boatwright will take over operations at the 350-bed hospital on Oct. 17.
Boatwright is CEO of Lee’s Summit Medical Center, a 64-bed facility where he’s been the top executive since 2007.
During his tenure, he’s led the hospital to several awards for its patient care, most recently being named as one of the nation’s top-performing hospitals by The Joint Commission, an organization that accredits U...
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 As the economy sputters, Kansas City-area gas prices are rolling backward.
Prices on both sides of the metropolitan area have declined by at least a dime a gallon from last week, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
The main reason is a precipitous decline in crude oil prices prompted by the state of the global economy, said Michael Right, AAA’s vice president of public affairs for the region that includes Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
The good news for consumers is that although auto fuel prices depend on many factors, there are no suggestions that they’ll turn around soon, Right said...
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Amid a slow U.S. market for initial public stock offerings, oil and gas companies are preparing to heat up activity, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Twenty-two energy companies have gotten in line to go public — the second-largest number behind the technology sector. But they’re hoping to raise a collective $6.95 billion — the largest amount of any sector based on Dealogic data, the WSJ reported.
So far this year, 13 energy company IPOs have raised $6.68 billion — the top dollar amount of any sector and the second-largest number of deals.
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Kansas City has completed the transfer of 68 acres of property along the Missouri River to the Port Authority of Kansas City.
The Kansas City Council approved the conveyance of 68 acres of riverfront property between the Heart of America and Kit Bond bridges, property that the Port Authority previously leased from the city.
The land transfer brings the acreage of downtown riverfront property under the Port Authority’s control to 120. The Port Authority has been doing environmental remediation on the land since 1997, cleaning up what was previously a building debris dump...
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 Jack Brady, a shareholder at Polsinelli Shughart PC, was elected vice president of the Missouri Bar at the organization’s annual meeting this week.
Brady becomes president-elect next year and president the year after that.
He represents plaintiffs and defendants, either individuals or corporations, in business litigation.
“I’m deeply honored to serve the Missouri Bar in this capacity,” Brady said in a release. “The bar plays an important role in our profession as we strive to serve our clients and the public, and maintain the ethics and responsibilities bestowed upon us as attorneys...
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 Legislation creating long-sought state subsidies for those investing in small Missouri-based life sciences companies finally is headed for Gov. Jay Nixon's desk.
On Friday, the Missouri House approved Senate Bill 7, which creates the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA).
The act lays the foundation for funneling life sciences company taxes into a fund to encourage investment in other life sciences companies.
However, language in the bill would prevent it from taking effect if lawmakers don’t also pass Senate Bill 8, which includes a bundle of economic development incentives and which faces an uphill battle...
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 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the top stock brokerage firms in the Kansas City area.
Twelve of this year’s companies reported more local registered representatives this year than last year; eight reported fewer; one reported no change; and three weren’t listed last year.
The biggest mover on the list is UMB Financial Services Inc., which rose from No. 12 on last year’s list to No. 4.
Here’s No. 5:
LPL Financial
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 4
LPL Financial reported 100 registered representatives in the Kansas City area...
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Kansas City took a hit from the NBA lockout on Friday, with news that a planned exhibition game at Sprint Center is canceled.
The NBA postponed training camps and called off preseason games through Oct. 15. That includes a scheduled Oct. 15 game in Kansas City between the Miami Heat and Houston Rockets.
The website for Sprint Center says refunds for those who bought tickets to the game will be available Monday.
The National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association have yet to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement...
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HCA Midwest Health System, which operates 10 hospitals in the Kansas City area, is consolidating with a sister division of eight hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The newly named HCA MidAmerica will be based in Kansas City, HCA Holdings Inc. said in a release Friday.
Mel Lagarde, president of the HCA Delta division, will take over as MidAmerica’s president. HCA Midwest President Stephen Corbeil will move to Nashville to become president of the corporation’s TriStar division.
“I welcome my new involvement in Missouri and Kansas as well as the continuance of my commitment to Louisiana and Mississippi,” Lagarde, a 32-year HCA veteran, said in an email...
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 Duraseal Pipe Coatings Co. LLC will relocate its Olathe manufacturing facility to the former Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport, the Port Authority of Kansas City announced Friday.
The manufacturer and exporter, serving the oil and gas industry, will bring 35 employees across the state line and will add 45 jobs at its new 37,000-square-foot location, John Crawford, interim CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, said in a release.
The EDC worked with the state to help Duraseal obtain nearly $212,000 in Missouri Quality Jobs program tax credits for the move...
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 The University of Kansas Hospital has been named as second-best in the nation among academic medical centers.
The Chicago-based University HealthSystem Consortium, made up of 114 U.S. academic hospitals, released its annual Quality & Accountability Study late Thursday. The study included 101 hospitals.
Researchers based the study on proprietary data and publicly available information about patient-care quality, safety, efficiency and patient satisfaction.
KU was disappointed when it came in 12th in UHC’s rankings last year, CEO Bob Page said in an interview...
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Bank of America is pursuing a deal to sell its stake in Overland Park-based NPC International Inc. for more than $800 million, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
Bank of America is negotiating with two unnamed private equity firms to buy its share in NPC, the world’s largest Pizza Hut franchisee. A sale would be one in a string the bank has made or is considering as it seeks to shore up its finances.
NPC reported revenue of $238.6 million and net income of $5.15 million for the quarter that ended June 28...
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The Kansas Board of Regents sliced its budget request for next year, giving incomplete grades to plans to finance a new building for the University of Kansas School of Medicine and expansion of the veterinary medicine program at Kansas State University, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.
Regents cut requests of nearly $60 million by the state’s colleges and community colleges to a request of $31.8 million. Indicative of the cuts was a reduction in a $20 million staff proposal for technical education programs at community colleges to $8 million...
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Tortoise Capital Resources Corp. announced that it asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to withdraw its election to be treated as a business development company.
The withdrawal bid, approved by shareholders in April, allows Leawood-based Tortoise Capital Resources (NYSE: TTO) to invest more money in real assets in the energy sector.
With its current status as a business development company, only 30 percent of Tortoise Capital’s total investments could be in real assets...
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Senate Republican leaders outlined a number of concerns Thursday with the House version of a jobs package for the state.
Sen. Leader Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, said the deal House members announced Wednesday with Gov. Jay Nixon would not do enough to rein in tax credits, which are costing the state $545 million this year.
Mayer criticized the House bill for failing to set a date for tax credit programs to end. He also said it does not ensure the state would receive an adequate return on its investment...
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Marketing agency Intouch Solutions Inc. has opened an office in New York City, expanding the Web development firm’s presence to the East Coast.
The Overland Park-based company hired Jack Lipton as senior vice president for client services to run the office.
Intouch Solutions, which services the pharmaceutical industry, reported $12.1 million in revenue for Web design and development services in 2010.
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TradeWind Energy LLC has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with an Alabama utility for energy from a roughly $400 million Oklahoma wind farm, a company spokesman said Thursday.
The Alabama Public Service Commission approved the 202-megawatt renewable energy deal between Lenexa-based TradeWind and Alabama Power Co. on Sept. 7. The energy will come from the Chisholm View Wind Project, a 300-megawatt wind farm yet to be built in Oklahoma. The project will cover roughly 20,000 acres, including the participation of more than 100 landowners, in Garfield and Grant Counties in north central Oklahoma...
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 Good news for bargain-hunters in the Kansas City metro area: Nordstrom Rack is slated to open Sept. 29 in Lenexa’s Orchard Shopping Center.
The off-price store will open in an old Circuit City location at 95th Street and Quivira Road, across from Oak Park Mall, which houses the area’s only full-line Nordstrom store.
It is the first Nordstrom Rack in Kansas, and one of five of the brand still to be opened in 2011. The chain plans to open six new Nordstrom Racks in 2012 and relocate two.
But Nordstrom Rack isn’t the only new shopping to come to the Kansas City area...
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AMC Entertainment Inc. plans to add state-of-the-art digital projection systems and extensive renovations throughout its Ward Parkway 14 theater, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
AMC said it will spend $4 million to renovate what it called one of the chain’s most historically important theaters. The Kansas City-based company said that it would pay about $3 million for physical renovations and that equipment vendors would pay for about $1 million in new technology.
A forerunner of AMC opened the Ward Parkway cinema in 1963 with two screens...
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 AMC Entertainment Inc. released details of its planned $4 million face-lift of its AMC Ward Parkway 14, a long-awaited renovation for one of the chain’s most historically important theaters.
The Kansas City-based company said Wednesday that it plans to convert the theater’s 14 auditoriums to state-of-the-art digital projection and sound and replace the existing seating with leather recliners in each auditorium.
It also said it plans to renovate the theater’s restrooms, its box office and lobby area, and remake its concession area so Ward Parkway Center visitors can buy snacks without having to buy a movie ticket...
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Starting Friday through Oct. 27, the Deanna Rose C ...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp. has landed an estimated $15 million contract to provide wireless services to the city of Houston, knocking off AT&T Inc., the city’s only wireless provider for more than 20 years.
Overland Park-based Sprint (NYSE: S) said Wednesday that the contract, which spans five years, involved about 10,000 activations of wireless services and more than 6,000 devices.
The contract includes 500 tablets, nearly 5,000 feature phones, plus a number of Android platform and BlackBerry smartphones...
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Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor Co.’s Bulk Material Handling Group in Fairway, Kan., signed a joint venture contract with the government of India to sell it coal-handling systems.
The contract provides a significant growth opportunity and will lead the company to hire 15 to 20 new people at the company’s office in Fairway.
“We have the contract now to sell coal-handling systems to all of their power plants,” said Sudy Vohra, executive vice president and general manager of Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor...
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The general manager of Kansas City public radio station KCUR-FM plans to step down next June.
Patricia Deal Cahill announced on Wednesday that she intends to retire on June 30, 2012, marking her 25th year in the position.
It was also announced that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees financing for publicly supported radio stations, voted on Sept. 20 to elected Cahill as vice chairwoman.
In a release, the station noted that during Cahill’s tenure KCUR’s audience has grown from 48,000 to 192,000 weekly listeners and has expanded into providing online multimedia content in addition to its regular radio programming...
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 New Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook reportedly will take the wraps off the new iPhone 5 on Oct. 4, and it will start selling within weeks.
All Things Digital cited unnamed sources in a report on Wednesday that said that the company could change the date but the plan now is to do the iPhone 5 debut on the first Tuesday of October.
It will be the first lengthy public look at Cook since he took over from the ailing Steve Jobs, who remains Apple's chairman.
The unveiling comes months after the usual rollout of the new iPhone at Apple's summer developers conference...
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The Kansas City, Mo., School District has lost its provisional accreditation by a unanimous vote of the Missouri Board of Education, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The decision is disappointing but not demoralizing, Interim Superintendent Stephen Green said.
The district has been on provisional accreditation since 2002 but hasn't met state-mandated educational standards, which is necessary to retain accreditation. If the state’s evaluation of the district does not improve in two years, the state could take over the district.
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 Euronet Worldwide Inc. completed its purchase of cadooz Holding GmbH, a German company that offers vouchers and loyalty/reward systems to corporate customers.
The Leawood-based electronic payment services provider (Nasdaq: EEFT) said late Tuesday that it bought cadooz from European private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners. The value of the cash deal, paid for from Euronet reserves, was not disclosed.
Euronet expects the deal to add 3 or 4 cents to its annual cash earnings per share during the first full year of the combination...
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The Missouri Board of Education has stripped the Kansas City, Mo., School District of its provisional accreditation.
School district officials are holding a news conference Tuesday afternoon about the accreditation loss.
The district has been on provisional accreditation since 2002 but has been unable to meet the state-mandated educational standards to retain its accreditation.
The district had planned for a decision from the state board of education, with two community meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday...
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Kansas City’s Parking & Transportation Commission has recommended a Main Street route for a streetcar public transit system.
City Councilman Russ Johnson, chairman of the committee, said an analysis comparing routes on Grand Boulevard and Main Street tied the routes in many situations, but in those where they didn’t, Main Street was a better option every time.
The commission met Thursday morning to look at the Downtown Corridor Alternatives Analysis and recommend a route and a mode of transportation, choosing between streetcars, enhanced buses or a no-build option...
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It looks like another week will go by without a jobs package being passed in an increasingly rocky special session of the Missouri General Assembly.
Republican leaders are scrambling to make a deal that can pass both chambers. According to media reports, key sponsor Rep. John Diehl, R-Town & Country, said Monday that a Senate version that trimmed an incentive plan to make St. Louis an international cargo hub was “dead on arrival” in the House.
And Tuesday, a meeting of the House committee considering the bill was canceled and tentatively rescheduled for Wednesday...
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Missouri hospital officials are warning that President Obama’s proposal to cut the federal deficit, which includes $320 million in Medicare and Medicaid savings, could hurt the state’s health care providers more than those in other parts of the country.
“The hospital community applauds efforts to bring federal spending under control and understands the concept of shared sacrifice,” Herb Kuhn, CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association, said in a release. “However, these cuts, which fall disproportionately on Missouri’s health care programs for seniors, the poor and disabled, will only harm the integrity of the system and blunt the provider community’s efforts to build a more efficient and higher-performing model of care...
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 Dozens of researchers, hospital administrators, philanthropists, and state and local leaders met at the University of Kansas Medical Center on Tuesday to give an official send-off for the institution’s application for National Cancer Institute designation.
“This is really an incredible achievement for all of us who are here in this room, everybody in Kansas and everyone in the whole Kansas City region,” said Dr. Barbara Atkinson, executive dean of the KU School of Medicine. “This is really a culmination of dreams that we’ve all had for a long time...
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 A new mobile payment application from Sprint Nextel Corp. and Google Inc. may provide a glimpse into the future, but don’t chuck that billfold yet.
Sprint (NYSE:S) on Monday announced the official launch of Google Wallet, a platform allowing Sprint subscribers to pay for items with just a tap of their smartphones at the registers of certain retailers. And while the cool and convenience factors certainly have their perks, the application has some inherent limitations.
For now, Google Wallet only works on one phone and at a relatively small number of locations...
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Capital One Financial Corp. will add 3,600 jobs this year, Bloomberg News reports.
The McLean, Va.-based financial services company has hired 1,800 new employees this year and will hire an additional 1,800 by the end of the year, a spokesperson said.
Capital One has acquired online banker ING Direct for $9 billion and is filling positions including bankers, financial analysts and call-center employees.
In 2008, Capital One Home Loans announced it would close its Overland Park lending center at 12800 Foster St...
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 AT&T Inc. plans to hire nearly 100 in Kansas, the majority of which will be in the Kansas City area, the company announced Monday at an Olathe work center.
Attributing the need for the employees to growth in its U-verse television, voice service and broadband operations, AT&T (NYSE: T) said it is seeking technicians to install the services.
During the first half of 2011, AT&T said its U-verse services gained more than 400,000 TV subscribers.
“This is some very welcome good news about jobs,” Gov...
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 Last week, I wrote a story a day (and then some) about the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I’m the daughter of a professional organist and carillonneur, so I grew up around the arts, seeing the classic ballet “Nutcracker” every holiday season and listening to classical music on CD until I was old enough to make my own decisions and put Backstreet Boys in my CD player.
So when my editor asked me Friday if I wanted to go to the grand opening of the new center, I jumped at the chance...
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A smattering of state attorneys general on Friday joined a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc. But in the home state of Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), which is one of the loudest critics of the $39 billion deal, Attorney General Derek Schmidt is absent from the list.
On Monday, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback was scheduled to stand beside AT&T (NYSE: T) officials at a planned jobs announcement during a news conference in Olathe. AT&T announced plans to hire nearly 100 in Kansas...
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Even after a Jackson County judge reduced the judgment against UBS Financial Services Inc. in a sexual harassment suit last week to $8.4 million, the verdict is apparently the largest ever won under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
But why did Judge Brent Powell chop $2.2 million off the award?
According to state law, punitive damages are capped at $500,000 or five times the net amount of the base award, whichever is bigger. In this case, the jury awarded $10 million in punitive damages to Carla Ingraham, a longtime UBS employee who said she was fired in retaliation for her claims of sexual harassment by an executive...
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Former Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Tony Gonzalez has put his condominium up for grabs.
The condo at 229 Ward Parkway in Kansas City overlooks the Country Club Plaza and has a price tag of $659,900. Jim Manning of ERA Manning and Associates is the listing agent.
The first-floor condo owned by the 11-time Pro Bowl selection has three bedrooms and two baths, featuring a large private master suite, a gourmet kitchen and a whirlpool tub.
Drafted by the Chiefs with the 13th overall pick in 1997, Gonzalez is one of the most prolific tight ends in the history of the National Football League and a likely first-ballot Hall of Fame candidate after he retires...
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 Parisi Artisan Coffee has opened its first retail coffee shop in Union Station Kansas City.
Parisi Café, which occupies 1,200 square feet next to the iconic structure’s Great Hall, sells its drum-roasted coffee, barista-brewed lattes and specialty coffee drinks, as well as food. And fans of the coffee can buy full bags, coffee-makers and mugs.
Customers can sip their joe inside the shop or at tables in Union Station’s main plaza.
“We are thrilled to have opened our first coffee shop in Union Station and to be a part of this thriving Kansas City business community,” Joe Paris, co-founder of Parisi Coffee, said in a written statement...
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A Leawood lawyer pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to his role in a $52 million real estate Ponzi scheme.
James Scott Brown, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud contained in an April indictment.
He could face five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Derek J. Smith, 67, of Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, also pleaded guilty. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, the two men used false financial statements to convince investors they could flip properties at a profit...
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The organization responsible for accrediting U.S. hospitals has named four Kansas City-area facilities among its annual list of top performers.
The Joint Commission this week released its list of 405 hospitals recognized as part of its Top Performers on Key Quality Measures Program. The program, using accountability data compiled and reported by the hospitals in 2010, measures the quality of care provided for five main areas: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, children’s asthma and general surgical care...
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 Three months into the job, YRC Worldwide Inc. CEO James Welch said he sees incremental improvements throughout the company, but there’s still a lot to do.
At the top of the list is re-establishing a productive corporate culture that he said was allowed to dwindle in recent years as the trucking company (Nasdaq: YRCW) worried more about staving off bankruptcy.
MORE: YRC shareholders OK restructuring; Nasdaq warns of delisting
RELATED: YRC says its directors actually are taking pay cuts
Along those lines, Welch has had workers remove items from the Overland Park headquarters that bear the logos of Yellow Corp...
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Jobless rates worsened last month in Kansas and Missouri as more workers joined each state’s labor force.
Kansas’ unemployment rate grew to 6.7 percent in August, up from 6.5 percent the previous month as more people joined its work force, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state added 5,400 employees to its labor force in August compared with the month before — a statistically significant change compared with other states. Correspondingly, the number of unemployed workers grew to 99,700, up from 97,800 in July...
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 YRC Worldwide Inc. shareholders have approved the last steps necessary for the trucking company’s financial restructuring, even as YRC’s share price plummeted toward zero and it received a renewed threat of delisting.
Stockholders on Friday voted by a wide margin in favor of the restructuring, which stakeholders approved in the summer.
As part of the deal, Overland Park-based YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW) essentially will wipe out existing shareholders, issuing millions of new shares in exchange for lenders forgiving debt and to raise additional equity...
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About 304,000 Chefmate blenders manufactured by Lenexa-based Select Brands Inc. and sold by Target Corp. are under recall.
The plastic pitcher can pull apart from the blade while the blender is operating, exposing the rotating blades. Seven serious injuries to consumers’ fingers and hands have been reported, with 11 reported instances of the pitcher separating from the blade.
Consumers immediately should stop using the Chefmate six-speed blenders, model BL-10, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which on Thursday issued the voluntary recall in conjunction with Target and Select Brands...
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 You might call the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts the finale of a decade of a dramatic redevelopment in downtown Kansas City.
The $413 million project has been lauded locally and nationally as world-class cultural amenity.
But taking a longer view, it’s a last blockbuster player filling out a $3 billion cast of projects in the heart of Kansas City. That becomes especially apparent with a look back at how Downtown has changed during the past 10 years — a look we try to offer with the slide show at the right, which takes you through the construction of H&R Block Inc...
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You’ll have an opportunity to hear proposed changes for the Johnson County Charter at 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Sylvester Powell Community Center, 6200 Martway in Mission. The proposals come from the appointed Charter Commission.
Ten years ago, a sage and trusted group of individuals created the Johnson County Charter. Maybe the only flaw in the charter was a provision to review the charter every 10 years. It has served us well and, in my humble opinion, has no fatal flaws that need correction...
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A Missouri insurance panel has delayed accepting a $21 million federal grant to plan for a health insurance exchange after state lawmakers raised concerns.
The Missouri Health Insurance Pool, which usually oversees providing coverage for Missourians with pre-existing conditions, was scheduled to vote Thursday about accepting the grant.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Aug. 12 that Missouri was one of 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, receiving grants to help with the technical planning for an online insurance marketplace...
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 In the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s inaugural season at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the company is going to land Air Force One on stage.
Granted, it’ll happen using video and lighting for “Nixon in China,” but the technology to create the effect is available at the $413 million Kauffman Center, which opens Friday.
The stage offers more wing space for performers and sets, as well as more pit space for musicians than at the group’s prior stage at Lyric Theatre. The pit expansion alone lets the orchestra grow from the 52 who could fit in the Lyric Theatre to 72 for “Turandot,” which will run Oct...
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The Kansas City area’s top independent insurance agencies did some shuffling for spots among the top five, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The KCBJ list ranks the companies by local life, health and benefits premium volume. This year’s No. 1 company, Lockton Cos. LLC, reported more than $1.05 billion in that category.
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Foundation Financial Group has opened a new office in Kansas City as part of a nationwide expansion plan.
The company specializes in mortgage lending and refinancing, property and casualty insurance, life insurance, retirement services and tax services.
It opened a retail location at 7607 N.W. Roanridge Road in Kansas City in August as part of a five-city expansion into the Midwest, including locations in Dayton, Indianapolis, Toledo and St. Paul. These are the company's first retail locations...
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 A Jackson County judge has entered an $8.4 million judgment against UBS Financial Services Inc. for firing an employee in retaliation for her claims of sexual harassment.
After a four-week trial in May, a jury handed down a $10.6 million verdict for Carla Ingraham, a longtime employee at the investment bank’s Kansas City location. But Judge Brent Powell reduced the amount in an order Tuesday after considering post-trial motions.
Ingraham sued in 2009, soon after she was fired from UBS after 22 years as a client service associate...
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 Hallmark Cards Inc. has held its place among the best employers for working mothers.
The Kansas City-based greeting card maker was the only company in Missouri or Kansas to appear on the 2011 Working Mother 100 Best Companies list. Hallmark made the list last year, too.
According to its profile by Working Mother magazine, Hallmark — led by CEO Donald Hall Jr. — employs 36,323 total, with 83 percent of them women. It made the list for its flexible options in telecommuting, flex staffing, part-time positions and job sharing, as well as for offering leave for both parents of a new child...
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The U.S. Postal Service’s latest plan to dramatically cut expenses may result in longer delivery times for First Class mail.
The Postal Service may shut down as many as 250 mail-processing facilities, cut its mail-processing equipment in half and reduce its nationwide transportation network, resulting in revised service standards for First Class mail.
It released a list Thursday of the mail-processing facilities — including seven in Kansas and two in Missouri — that it’s studying for possible closing or consolidation...
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 YRC Worldwide Inc. wants to set the record straight about the compensation it’s providing to its board of directors.
A couple weeks ago, I reported about a securities filing from the Overland Park-based trucking company (Nasdaq: YRCW) detailing pay for its new board, which took over in the summer after YRC completed its financial restructuring.
The story noted that YRC planned to pay its directors a cash retainer of $75,000 a year, extra payments of between $10,000 and $15,000 for committee chairmen, and restricted stock units worth $100,000...
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 The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has named a successor to longtime leader Thomas Hoenig.
Esther George, the bank’s first vice president and COO, will take Hoenig’s spot after he retires Oct. 1.
Check back for updates to this breaking story.
Here's the release:
Esther George, first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the Bank. She will succeed Thomas M. Hoenig, who is retiring from the Bank on Oct...
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 AMC Entertainment Inc.’s decision to move its corporate headquarters from downtown Kansas City across the state line to the Park Place development in Leawood attracted a host of reactions from area officials, largely based on who’s winning and who’s losing.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James said he was disappointed about the announcement. AMC and its founder, Stan Durwood, were key backers of what eventually became the Kansas City Power & Light District, as well as of downtown redevelopment in general...
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 Former Kansas Attorney General Steve Six has joined Kansas City-based law firm Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP as a partner.
The move comes after Six, a Democrat, saw his nomination to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals derailed during the summer by Kansas’ GOP senators, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran.
A former district court judge in Douglas County, Six was appointed as attorney general in 2008. He lost his re-election bid last year.
George Hanson, a partner at Stueve Siegel Hanson, said that he was shocked Six’s appointment to the federal bench was blocked but that the firm quickly seized the opportunity to bring Six aboard...
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 AMC Entertainment Inc. has been a plum of the Kansas City real estate market, one of the few big office tenants looking for space.
It’s on the market no longer.
The nation’s second-largest movie theater chain is moving its headquarters from downtown Kansas City across the state line to the Kansas suburbs — Leawood’s Park Place. The Kansas City Business Journal reported in July that AMC was considering the location.
The choice highlights an ongoing rift between Missouri and Kansas, which have been coaxing companies — and their jobs — across the state line through use of incentives...
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 Ending almost a year’s worth of speculation, AMC Entertainment Inc. said it will move its corporate headquarters from downtown Kansas City to Leawood.
The nation’s second-largest movie theater operator said Wednesday that it will relocate its 450 employees and contractors to a new $30 million building at suburban Park Place in the spring of 2013, becoming that mixed-use development’s largest tenant and the latest high-profile blow to downtown Kansas City’s efforts to attract and retain corporate residents...
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 Corbin Park LP wants to try auctioning off the 97-acre Overland Park shopping district again on Oct. 24.
The affiliate of Omaha-based Cormac Co. has asked for a Sept. 29 hearing to approve a new sale procedure after an Aug. 30 auction failed to happen because no bid deposits were received.
Corbin Park, a partially developed shopping district at 135th Street and Metcalf Avenue, counts J.C. Penney and Von Maur as tenants. It went into bankruptcy in January 2010 amid financing troubles.
The proposed sale procedure calls for an Oct...
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 H&R Block Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday was tame compared with the heated debate and strong personalities that dominated the event during the past few years.
For one, this was the first annual meeting in four years without Richard Breeden, who entered the H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) scene in 2007, quickly acquiring a 2 percent stake in the company and immediately shaking things up by waging a proxy battle against the existing board and Chairman and CEO Mark Ernst. Breeden’s slate of directors won the battle by a landslide, then began implementing measures to refocus Kansas City-based H&R Block on its core tax business and make it more responsive to shareholders...
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 Tightwad Bank is asking the Kansas Banking Commission for permission to move its main office from Reading to Merriam, effectively making the Kansas City area the bank’s headquarters.
The bank temporarily has been operating out of Osage City, Kan., because of the tornado that struck Reading on May 21, according to the bank’s website.
It filed its application on Aug. 26; the earliest it could be considered by the State Banking Board is at the board’s Oct. 17 meeting, said Dana Hampton, the commission’s director of corporate activities...
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 Kansas City’s riverboat casinos saw overall patron counts take another sharp tumble in August, pulling revenue down compared with a year prior.
The lone winner in both revenue and patron counts was Isle of Capri Kansas City. Its revenue edged up 1.8 percent to $7.16 million while patron count rose 3.7 percent to 143,100. Of course, a big reason for Isle of Capri's gain was the completion of the nearby Christopher S. Bond Bridge, which caused detours last year.
Argosy Casino & Hotel Kansas City managed to roll a 4...
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 Small business owners in Missouri and nationwide are losing confidence in the economy, an August survey found.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses’ latest Small-Business Optimism Index, released Tuesday, fell in August for the sixth straight month. It dropped 1.8 points to 88.1, a low reading that followed the national debt-default scare.
Expectations for real sales gains and improved business conditions drove most of the decline, with four positive components tempering the drop...
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The Kansas City area’s economy grew at a pace of 1.52 percent last year — slower than the national average of 2.5 percent, according to figures released Tuesday.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the gross metropolitan product (GMP) of the metro area was nearly $105.97 billion in 2010, putting the area 26th among 366 metro areas. That was up from the inflation-adjusted figure for 2009.
Although Kansas City has one of the largest metro-area economies, its growth pace ranked much further down the list at No...
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Patent reform legislation on its way to becoming law will shift the nation from honoring the brains behind an invention to who reached the patent office first.
The “America Invents Act,” which President Obama is slated to sign Friday, puts the United States more in line with European patent laws. The bill represents the first big changes to patent law since 1952 and is being lauded for eliminating hurdles for technology companies.
But a local patent lawyer joins other critics in questioning how much good the “so-called reform” will do...
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 The University of Missouri ranks 90th on the latest U.S. News Media Group ranking of the top national universities.
The 2012 edition of Best Colleges ranks more than 1,600 schools nationwide in various categories, with Harvard University and Princeton University tied for the top spot among national universities.
Peruse the top few hundred schools online.
MU’s Columbia campus has in-state tuition of $8,989, out-of-state tuition of $21,784 and enrollment of 32,415, according to the report. The Tigers accepted 84 percent of fall 2010 applicants, had an average freshman retention rate of 85 percent and had a six-year graduation rate of 69 percent...
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 Delta Air Lines Inc. plans to cut capacity by as much as 5 percent during the fourth quarter and by as much as 3 percent in 2012.
Delta (NYSE: DAL) President Ed Bastian reported the cuts in a Tuesday presentation at the Deutsche Bank Aviation & Transportation Conference.
The airline is the second-largest at Kansas City International Airport (Code: MCI), where it accounted for 17 percent of boardings through July of this year.
Atlanta-based Delta aims to cut capacity in markets where revenue has not kept pace with higher fuel costs...
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 Downtown Kansas City is expected to host more than 20,000 visitors for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts’ grand opening celebration Sunday.
Because of the massive crowds, the Downtown Council of Kansas City is urging visitors to plan ahead for parking and consider spending time in one of the neighborhoods surrounding the facility.
The center has an attached 1,000-car garage, but more than 15,000 spots are available in the Kansas City Power & Light District, Crossroads Arts District and West Side...
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Lockton Cos. Inc. has set up a new entertainment division and is opening a new office in California's San Fernando Valley.
“The risks faced by entertainment executives are wide ranging and challenging,” Lenny Fodemski, chief operating officer of Lockton’s Southern California operations, said in a release. “Our clients will benefit tremendously from the expertise and in-depth knowledge our new team brings to the table.”
The entertainment division will be divided into two groups: Premier Private Risk and Music & Entertainment...
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 I’m proud to tell you about some important changes in the Kansas City Business Journal newsroom lineup:
• Krista Klaus, who has been covering real estate and development, is assuming a new role as associate editor for special projects. In the job, Krista will oversee our In Depth sections, special sections (such as the coming Best Places to Work section) and a few extras in the news portion of the publication (see the 9/11 package in last week’s print edition).
Essentially, Krista trades one big beat for a job in which she has to have a handle on every beat...
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 Federal budget writers are looking to eliminate financing that supports daily Amtrak trains between Kansas City and St. Louis.
A House Appropriations subcommittee last week approved draft legislation that, beginning Oct. 1, would prohibit federal money from paying for the operational costs of state-supported Amtrak service.
Fifteen states, including Missouri, subsidize Amtrak service. Missouri supports trains that travel round trip between Kansas City and St. Louis twice a day.
The routes connecting the cities have been increasingly popular...
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 The curtains will fall back on Kansas City’s new Kauffman Center for Performing Arts on Friday, with opening celebrations running all weekend.
The $413 million project’s first season will include debut performances from some of its resident companies, which are the Kansas City Ballet, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Symphony.
Renowned architect Moshe Safdie designed the 285,000-square-foot center.
BONUS: Get a sneak peak by viewing the video and photo slide show to the right
“The Kauffman Center will be a beacon for Kansas City — a transparent and welcoming place that radiates warmth and invites the community to come together,” Safdie said in a written statement...
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 Kansas ranked ninth among U.S. states and the District of Columbia in a new AARP study examining long-term services and support for seniors and people with disabilities.
The study, released late last week, graded each state and D.C. by 25 indicators pertaining to four general areas: affordability and accessibility of services, the number of choices for care settings and providers, quality of care and support provided to family caregivers.
Kansas ranked in the top quartile for affordability and in the second quartile for the other measures...
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 Bank of America Corp. plans to eliminate about 30,000 jobs during the next few years as part of a plan to cut $5 billion in expenses.
The company issued a statement detailing the job cuts on Monday after CEO Brian Moynihan spoke at the Barclays Capital Financial Services Conference in New York.
Bank of America, the third-largest Kansas City-area bank based on market share of deposits, has 46 banking centers, 97 ATMs and about 1,200 associates in the metro area.
In its statement, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) said it expects that “attrition and the elimination of appropriate unfilled roles will be a significant part of the anticipated decrease in jobs...
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A prediction by Ford Motor Co. that the U.S. auto industry would sell 13 million vehicles may miss the mark, Bloomberg reports.
The news came from Ford (NYSE: F) CFO Lewis Booth, who spoke at a UBS conference in London.
A dozen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have cut their annual sales estimates since the first quarter for reasons such as economic and financial markets concerns prompting consumers to continue to put off purchases.
Booth said there are “signs of pent-up demand” but it will take confidence in the future to turn that demand into purchases...
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Bank of Kansas City announced Friday that it appointed Michael Viazzoli to the newly created position of president.
Marc Maun remains CEO of Bank of Kansas City, a division of BOK Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: BOKF).
Viazzoli has more than 20 years of experience in banking, including roles at financial institutions in Los Angeles, New York, Zurich and Chicago. He moved to Kansas City in 1998, taking a job with George K. Baum & Co. He most recently spent 12 years as a senior vice president in corporate and investment banking at Bank of America...
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Destination Profile: There's No Place Like Kansas
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eHealthAlign, a Kansas City-area health information exchange, is closing its doors less than a year after its creation.
eHealthAlign CEO Jim Brophy said the nonprofit organization’s board voted late last month to dissolve the fledgling exchange, which had yet to begin sharing patient data among health care providers.
He said the board members looked at the market and determined that the need for eHealthAlign was lessened by ongoing developments in Missouri and Kansas to create their statewide exchanges...
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The Kansas City Health Department on Monday will start its annual campaign of dispensing flu vaccinations.
But state and federal budget cuts are hampering the program’s ability to treat those with little or no insurance and will prevent health officials from taking the program into neighborhoods.
Flu shots for adults will be available at the Health Department at 2400 Troost Ave. beginning Monday. The department will dispense shots between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays, except on Thursdays, when the hours are 8 a...
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DeMasters Insurance LLC acquired the book of business from Plaza Insurance Agency for an undisclosed amount on Sept. 1.
Twig Novak, the former owner of Plaza Insurance, is retiring. The business had no other employees.
Tom DeMasters is the second-generation owner of DeMasters Insurance, which was founded in 1949. It has four employees and a book of business worth about $1.75 million.
DeMasters writes business, home and auto, preferred and hard-to-place business insurance. It’s the same type of business that Plaza Insurance wrote...
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Rycoblake Corp. can’t work on any publicly backed projects until December 2012 because of a scuffle tied to the company’s work on the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium renovation.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s office added the Grandview-based ventilation systems company to the Public Works Construction Debarment list — where it sits alone at the moment.
The action is the result of a wage investigation by the Jackson County Compliance Office, which concluded that Rycoblake owed $3,324...
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Kansas City’s employment rate is suffering from industries vulnerable to recession and a gap between educated workers and employers’ demand for them, according to new data from the Brookings Institution.
But it’s suffering less from those factors than many other metro areas.
At 33rd, Kansas City ranked higher than two-thirds of the metro areas in the survey, but it still fell behind areas such as Washington; Madison, Wis.; and Boston — the top three. The higher on the list an area ranked, the smaller the education gap and the more resilient its industries...
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Kansas City bureaucrats are merging the city’s budget, accounts and finance departments to cut costs.
City officials pegged the savings at $100,000 a year after the reorganization takes effect Monday.
Six of the Kansas City Budget division’s 10 full-time positions are filled. Two of those employees will move to the Kansas City manager’s office; the remaining employees will move to the Finance Department.
“In addition to cost savings, the integration of the Budget Division within the Finance Department offers a tremendous opportunity to improve both financial oversight and service to the city’s departments and agencies,” City Manager Troy Schulte said in a written statement...
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 Dr. Rex Archer is going to go see a new movie this weekend: “Contagion.” It’s being released the weekend of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, when the idea of biological terrorism was thrust to the forefront.
Archer is familiar with the threat of disease. As Kansas City’s health director, he was called in to deal with anthrax sent through the Kansas City mail-processing center in late 2001.
Knowledge about handling biological attacks has increased in the 10 years since, he said, but decreased financing has forced layoffs of the people who would implement the solutions...
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The Parkville Chamber of Commerce is making plans to return to its office in a historic train depot after being displaced by flood concerns for two months.
It plans to reopen the office Sept. 29.
Last week, city officials began removing thousands of sandbags that had shielded downtown Parkville from the swelling Missouri River since July.
The sandbags came down after the Army Corps of Engineers announced it was easing off of releases upstream at Gavins Point Dam.
The Corps said the historically large releases were needed to protect the dam after record-breaking spring rainfall...
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 The events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed American life on all fronts, and Kansas City-based businesses were no exception.
But the fallout from the deadliest attacks on American soil hit some industries harder than others. Financial services and transportation providers took a hit right after 9/11 and struggled to recover while navigating new federal laws aimed at protecting Americans. Other industries — from defense and security to crisis communications — realized newfound growth after the attacks...
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 The Senate on Thursday passed the first big overhaul of the U.S. patent system in nearly 60 years, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature.
This gave Obama a victory one hour and 15 minutes before his speech outlining his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress. The president had been pushing Congress to pass the patent reform bill, which he said will create jobs by enabling high-tech companies to commercialize their innovations more quickly.
The bill, which already had passed the House, cleared the Senate on an 89-9 vote...
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 United Way of Greater Kansas City has kicked off its 2011 fundraising campaign, launched by 16 companies that have raised almost $6.7 million.
Hallmark Cards Inc. and its employees pledged the most at more than $2.76 million. Other leading pacesetter companies included KCP&L, JE Dunn Construction Group Inc., UMB Financial Corp. and Garmin International Inc.
This year’s challenge is for companies to boost their United Way commitments by 5 percent.
“That can be measured as a 5 percent increase in total donations or a 5 percent increase in participation,” Peggy Dunn, Leawood mayor and campaign co-chair, said in a written statement...
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 Kansas City’s KSHB-TV soon will be able to offer live video programming on iPhones and other mobile devices.
The E.W. Scripps Co. is rolling out the technology in its nine TV markets, including Kansas City.
The streaming will be available through the stations’ mobile apps. Breaking news or severe weather will bring up a prompt for users to watch streaming content, either a simulcast of on-air content or content specifically for the mobile stream.
“When it comes to delivering news and information, we already own live coverage on television and the Web,” Adam Symson, vice president of interactive for the Scripps television division, said in a release...
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Missouri Senate Republicans who expressed misgivings about the Aerotropolis component of a tax credit and business incentives package postponed scheduled debate on the bill until early next week.
The delay in debating the bill, which passed out of committee on Wednesday night, signaled trouble in the core reason for convening a special session.
“I think the incentives package is in trouble,” said Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City. “There’s no question about that.”
The postponement of debate until Monday or Tuesday was designed to give lawmakers more time to study the costs and benefits of the bill and to give the Missouri Department of Economic Development more time to analyze various proposals...
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More than half of employers think other companies are trying to poach their top people, according to a survey by Right Management, the work force consultants for ManpowerGroup.
Of the more than 700 organizations surveyed, 56 percent of the CEOs and human resources professionals said that competing companies were trying to hire away their best employees. Only 4 percent of those surveyed strongly disagreed with the prompt, “Other companies actively try to recruit our leaders.”
“No organization today is immune from the stresses of effective retention or competitive recruitment,” Michael Haid, senior vice president of talent management for Right Management, said in a release...
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 R-O-M Corp. has acquired Bustin Industrial Products, a Pennsylvania manufacturer, for an undisclosed amount.
The Wednesday purchase was from MW Supply Inc. of Glen Rose, Texas.
Belton-based R-O-M makes roll-up doors for emergency and service vehicles, insulated bulkhead systems and safety-walk ramps for the food distribution industry, LED lighting and security chain enclosures.
Bustin, based in East Stroudsburg, Pa., makes truck and trailer access products such as walk ramps, steps and ladders, as well as a variety of industrial safety access products...
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 President Obama is scheduled to unveil his proposed job-creation plan Thursday evening, and America’s small manufacturers should be a key focus, the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center says.
“Our country needs a jobs plan that will help small manufacturers create jobs and enhance our global competitiveness through the investment in small to midsized companies,” MAMTC CEO Sandy Johnson said in a release.
Johnson said that despite a weakening economic landscape, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program helped create 72,075 jobs in 2009 alone...
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 The Kansas City Chiefs last season won their first AFC West division title since 2003, but the value of the franchise is down, according to the latest Forbes rankings.
The Chiefs ranked 18th among the 32 National Football League teams, with a franchise value of $986 million. That’s down from last year, when the Chiefs ranked 14th with a value of $1.03 billion.
The Chiefs didn’t immediately return a call about the ranking.
Forbes said the average value of an NFL team is $1.04 billion, up 1...
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 Kansas City International Airport is ramping up security ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
For travelers around the Sunday anniversary, that means allowing a little extra time for potential random vehicle checks. Law enforcement, including K-9 patrols, also will be more visible, though most of the precautions will be behind the scenes, the Kansas City Aviation Department said.
KCI (Code: MCI) also urged visitors to pay attention and notify KCI Airport Police about anything unusual...
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Premier Beverage Inc. will make Overland Park its regional headquarters.
The subsidiary of Glazer’s Distributors will consolidate two offices into 20,000 square feet at 5200 Metcalf Avenue, where Swiss Re leases office space.
Class A space in the building is listed for $14.50 a square foot by CoStar Group.
Premier Beverage will move its sales, marketing and office operations from Lenexa and Kansas City, where it employs a combined 122 workers, to the new regional headquarters space.
“Our Overland Park office is going to be our central sales office for both Kansas City and Kansas City, Kan...
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 Layne Christensen Co. profits jumped during the company’s second fiscal quarter. Meanwhile, an ongoing internal investigation has found suggestions of improper payments and led to three firings.
The Mission Woods-based company (Nasdaq: LAYN) said it terminated the three overseas members of the Mineral Exploration Division management "for failing to follow the company's policies and procedures." It also has replaced division President Eric Despain with Gernot Penzhorn, a leadership change Layne said would help its efforts to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...
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 H&R Block Inc. is waging a determined legal battle against efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to block its pending acquisition of digital tax software provider TaxACT.
Kansas City-based H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) announced in October that it planned to acquire TaxACT for $287.5 million in cash.
The Justice Department moved to block the acquisition on May 23, arguing that it would drive up prices and hamper innovation.
Late Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that H&R Block told U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell that the deal would lower its costs and allow it to better compete with digital tax giant Intuit Inc...
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 Back-to-school shopping and unexpected strength in auto sales helped the Kansas City Federal Reserve District continue its plodding economic expansion in late July and early August.
The seven-state Kansas City district, or 10th District, was among a fortunate five of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts to enjoy modest or slight expansion during the period. Others reported mixed or weakening activity, with some saying the stock market’s volatility and a rise in economic uncertainty could have tempered near-term outlooks...
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 Sunlighten is trying to illuminate a new client base through tanning salon-style franchises of its health-promoting infrared saunas.
The new SuiteSweat franchise, a joint venture between Overland Park-based Sunlighten and entrepreneur Alex Samios, has signed one multi-unit franchise deal and has several others in the works, SuiteSweat CEO Samios said. His ambition: 300 locations in five years.
SuiteSweat offers infrared sauna therapy for health and wellness purposes using a membership-based business model, with private sauna suites in a spa-type setting...
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 Missouri drivers are getting better about using their seat belts, but the state still lags the national average.
The Missouri Department of Transportation on Wednesday released the results of its annual seat belt survey, which found that 79 percent of drivers use a seat belt, up from 76 percent last year. Among teenagers, the increase was smaller, inching up 1 percentage point to 67 percent.
Nationally, 85 percent of drivers buckle up.
“The survey numbers continue to be relatively flat,” Leanna Depue, MoDOT’s director of highway safety, said in a release...
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 Lockton Cos. Inc. has opened a new insurance and risk management office in Omaha, Neb.
The Kansas City-based insurance broker said Wednesday that the expansion into Nebraska is part of a long-term growth strategy there and that the number of people there will grow during the coming weeks.
Lockton has temporary offices in Omaha for now but plans to move to permanent offices during the next few months.
The Omaha office makes the third new location in two weeks that Lockton has announced. Last week, Lockton said it was opening offices in Philadelphia and Norway...
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KC BioMedix Inc. has landed a big partner: GE Healthcare Inc. will help it distribute technology that helps premature babies learn to feed themselves.
GE Healthcare announced Wednesday that its Maternal Infant Care division had signed an exclusive rights agreement to distribute and market Shawnee-based KC BioMedix’s NTrainer pulsatile neurostimulation system. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“KC BioMedix’s agreement with GE Healthcare is a step toward our goal of taking leadership in the emerging market for technologies that address incompetent feeding issues in premature infants,” KC BioMedix co-founder and President Mike Litscher said in a release...
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Saab Automobile has applied for protection from creditors in an effort to stave off a bankruptcy petition by unions, Bloomberg reports.
This is the second voluntary restructuring in as many years for the 64-year-old Swedish carmaker. Saab halted automobile production in June.
Former owner General Motors Co. began liquidating Saab Auto in early 2009 and sold the company to Spyker Cars NV in 2010 for about $400 million.
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Nueterra Healthcare has promoted Marc Goff to chief operating officer.
The Leawood-based company, one of the nation’s leading developers and managers of physician-owned surgical facilities, announced the move Tuesday.
Goff joined Nueterra last year as group vice president and the vice president of operations, managing several of the company’s U.S. locations.
She replaces David Ayers, who moved up to CEO of Nueterra last year.
“As we continue to refine our corporate structure, Marc’s move into this new position will allow her to have an even greater impact on our operations and profitability,” Ayers said in a release...
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 The Kansas City Business Journal’s website had some popular content last week, with readers’ favorites ranging from jobs news to restaurants.
Top stories included big Kansas City-area companies such as Polsinelli Shughart PC, YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) and Burns & McDonnell.
See the slideshow at the right to find out which stories attracted the most readers.
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 The Loretto on 39th Street, a redevelopment project in Kansas City, can proceed after the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling.
An Aug. 23 opinion by the appellate court ruled in favor of Kansas City and the Loretto Redevelopment Corp. Inc., which faced litigation from a neighbor in the Midtown Volker Neighborhood who has opposed the plans for a hotel at the site of the former Loretto Academy.
An existing building, which is on more than 6 acres near 39th and Mercier streets, was redeveloped for wedding receptions and corporate events...
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 Bench warrant harming your job search? Overdue traffic tickets getting you down? For a limited time, the Municipal Court for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., is offering a deal for 50 percent off.
People with bench warrants for failure to appear in court, resisting arrest and overdue fines under warrant status — as far back as five years — will be allowed to pay half the total balance during a “one-time-only three-day Amnesty Program” from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct...
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 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant will open its second Kansas City-area location in Leawood on Sept. 26. The restaurant represents the small chain’s first location in Kansas.
The 7,500-square-foot restaurant at 11652 Ash St. is in the Park Place mixed-use development.
The first Kansas City-area location opened in 2008 in the Kansas City Power & Light District at 100 E. 14th St.
Beer for Gordon Biersch’s Leawood location will be brewed at the downtown restaurant.
The chain has 29 locations in 18 states and Washington, D...
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 Google Inc. has bought Zave Networks, a Kansas City, Kan., digital coupon company.
Zave, which announced the acquisition by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) on its website late Friday night, said terms of the deal wouldn’t be disclosed.
As of the spring, Zave had 30 employees. It was founded in 2006.
The company, which operates as Zavers, helps consumers use coupons digitally without having to rely on paper coupons, such as through supermarket loyalty cards. Customers in the Northeast also can collect and manage retail coupons using their cell phones...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp. said it filed a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile, alleging that it violates antitrust laws.
Overland Park-based Sprint (NYSE: S) said its suit — filed in federal court in the District of Columbia — would be considered a related case to the suit the U.S. Department of Justice filed last week against AT&T’s attempts to acquire T-Mobile.
“Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” Susan Haller, Sprint’s vice president of litigation, said in a written statement...
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 Elecsys Corp. posted a nearly 10 percent spike in revenue as sales of its remote monitoring and industrial communications products rose, according to the company’s fiscal first-quarter report. But economic conditions remain a concern.
Demand for custom electronic assemblies and displays from original equipment manufacturers also was strong, Olathe-based Elecsys (Nasdaq: ESYS) reported Tuesday.
Here is a summary of the company’s financial report for the three months that ended July 31, compared with the same period a year prior:
Revenue: $5...
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MRIGlobal has won a five-year, $28 million contract to support cancer research, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The Kansas City-based nonprofit research organization, formerly known as Midwest Research Institute, said Tuesday that under the contract from the National Institutes of Health Division of Cancer Prevention, it would run the Centralized Chemopreventive Agent Repository and Drug Chemistry Support program.
“Reducing the risk of cancer is vital to enhancing the quality of human life,” MRIGlobal CEO Michael Helmstetter said...
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H&R Block Inc. swung to a quarterly loss as revenue slipped and the company faced tax-season complications.
The Kansas City-based tax preparer (NYSE: HRB) said it deferred $19.7 million — $11.9 million after taxes — in revenue to its fiscal fourth quarter because the Internal Revenue Service couldn’t accept certain tax forms before Feb. 14. H&R Block also faced after-tax charges of $36.5 million.
Here are its fiscal third-quarter results compared with the same period a year prior:
Revenue:...
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 Bank of America Corp. could close as many as 10 percent of its 5,800 branch banking offices in future years, the company’s head of consumer banking said Tuesday.
The closings would come as the bank refocuses on cross-selling and new technology.
"Don’t be surprised to see a 10 percent reduction or slightly less than that over the next few years," Price said in response to an audience question at Bank of America's Investor Conference 2011.The bank (NYSE: BAC), the nation’s largest by its $2.7 trillion in assets as of...
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Hurricane Grill & Wings, a rapidly growing chicken wings restaurant, plans to open four or five restaurants in the Kansas City metro area after signing a franchisee for the territory.
Company President Martin O’Dowd said Wednesday that the franchisee, Category Five LLC, is actively looking at sites in Kansas City. He said he expects the first area location to open within the year.
Hurricane Grill & Wings, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., is cooking up a big expansion push. It now has 42 locations in seven states, but the seven development agreements announced Wednesday would boost that number by 233 restaurants, adding new locations in 15...
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Lockton Cos. Inc. opened an office in Charlotte on March 1, its first presence in the Carolinas.
Three longtime Charlotte-area insurance advisers prompted Lockton to open the office. Lockton hired Blake Graeber as senior vice president, Adams Withers as vice president and Steve Montgomery as senior vice president and unit manager.
“Blake, Adams and Steve are a great fit for our culture, and we look forward to expanding our Charlotte team in the coming months,” Doug Hutcherson, president of Lockton Southeast, said in a...
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Residential real estate team The Bash Group is swapping its Prudential Kansas City Realty flag for an affiliation with Keller Williams Key Partners LLC.
With $35 million in closed transactions in 2010, The Bash Group ranks No. 6 on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of top residential real estate groups.
Andrew Bash, principal of The Bash Group, said Keller Williams’ business model, sales tools and agent-training programs prompted the switch.
“From our perspective, the traditional real estate office is super top-heavy, with corporations telling people what they should and shouldn’t do,” Bash...
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 Outside the craziness of downtown Kansas City, where crowds have converged to watch the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, a Leawood restaurant has transformed itself in a bid to corner some of that business.
Trezo Vino, in Park Place shopping center at 115th Street and Nall Avenue in Leawood, has set up a sports bistro concept for the month. Along with new food and drink options, the restaurant put up two 55-inch high-definition TVs in addition to its two existing, somewhat smaller...
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A Raymore man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to charges related to his role in a $2.2 million Ponzi scheme.
Carl Todd faces as much as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Todd already agreed to a forfeiture order that includes handing over $2.2 million to the federal government.
Todd ran businesses such as Platinum Financial Advisors LLC with an unindicted co-conspirator referred to in court documents only as “RR.”
The two represented the company as an investment and bank trading program, despite lacking regulatory approval to sell...
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 Summit Fair, a new shopping center in Lee’s Summit, has landed two new tenants that will open in late spring, joining a spate of recent openings.
The latest additions: The Children’s Place and Massage Heights, which will open in late May or early June.
The Children’s Place sells specialty children’s apparel and will take a 4,000-square-foot space, 970-A N.W. Blue Parkway, near JCPenney; Massage Heights is a spa that offers professional massages by licensed and registered therapists. It will fill a 2,200-square-foot space at 970-D...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp.’s CEO doesn’t foresee a time when the wireless carrier isn’t working with 4G partner Clearwire Corp., with which Sprint has had differences of late.
But Dan Hesse told analysts Wednesday that Clearwire’s importance to Sprint could decline — a planned multiyear network upgrade will provide more flexibility for working with other companies.
“As we look at our scenarios, they all include Clearwire,” Hesse said at the Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Media and Telecom Conference in Palm Beach,...
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 Airlines’ fuel costs soared by nearly 20 percent in January, according to data compiled by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The cost per gallon for U.S. airlines’ scheduled services was $2.62, up 19.6 percent from $2.19 in January 2010. Fuel expenses were up more than 14 percent compared with December.
The price of oil has jumped to around $100 a barrel in recent months because of factors such as the U.S. economic recovery and political turmoil in the Middle East. Already this year, carriers have tried to counter those rising costs with six broad-based attempts to increase domestic airfare, meeting with varying degrees of...
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A planned Friday bankruptcy court hearing concerning the Corbin Park retail development in Overland Park was cancelled after an auction scheduled for Aug. 30 failed to happen.
The docket in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas indicated that Corbin Park LP cancelled the hearing because an auction of the shopping center project didn’t happen, in the absence of a deposit from a bidder.
Parties are said to be interested in the stalled development, but no new auction date has been announced...
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 Missouri Department of Transportation construction projects will take a Labor Day break to ease travel.
The department said it will halt temporary lane closings in the Kansas City area to clear the way for higher Labor Day weekend traffic. The work stoppage lasts from noon Friday until Tuesday morning. However, some long-term closings will continue.
“Our lane closures on I-70 as part of the I-435 interchange improvement project will remain in place, but most temporary lane reductions elsewhere will be suspended through the long weekend,” Perry Allen, Kansas City district construction and materials engineer, said in a release.
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 Capitol Federal Financial Inc. has withdrawn its application to the Federal Reserve to start a share repurchase program.
It had filed the application in July.
The Topeka-based holding company (Nasdaq: CFFN) for Capitol Federal Savings Bank, which has 23 locations in the Kansas City area, said Thursday that the withdrawal came because of talks with the Federal Reserve about implementing the Savings and Loan Holding Company rules.
In May 2010, the company began a transition to a full-stock company out of concern that banking reform would harm its shareholders...
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 The Kansas Speedway announced dates for its races in 2012, when it again will host two NASCAR events.
The Kansas City, Kan., track will host the STP 400, part of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, on April 22. Also that weekend, the track will host the first SFP 250, part of the Camping World Truck Series.
The Kansas Speedway will crank back up in October next year with the Sprint Cup Hollywood Casino 400 on Oct. 21 and the Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300 on Oct. 20.
The Kansas Speedway plans to renovate the track next year...
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 Huhtamaki North America, a De Soto-based food service and paperboard packaging company, has acquired Paris Packaging Inc.
Paris — which employs 300 at plants in Paris, Texas; Andalusia, Ala.; and Hopkisville, Ky. — makes specialty folding cartons.
Huhtamaki, which employs about 3,000, said in a release that the acquisition brings it a new product platform, talented work force and greater South and Southeast manufacturing presence. Its specialty is tableware, cups, containers, carriers, trays and serviceware...
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 Kansas City Business Journal’s Best Places to Work have been narrowed to 30 area companies.
The awards program recognizes Kansas City-area companies that create workplaces that pass muster with the most knowledgeable judges — their employees. Companies are ranked based on the results of a confidential survey completed by a percentage of their work forces. The survey takes into account areas such as benefits, perks and interaction with management. (Our Best Places to Work website includes info about our 2010 winners...
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 Labor Day must be the time to crave barbecue, and Oklahoma Joe's is on the menu today.
Travel site Cheapflights.com named Kansas City, Kan., among its top 10 barbecue towns, particularly because of Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue, which is in a former gas station at 3002 W. 47th Ave.
The other towns were Chapel Hill, N.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Austin, Texas; Chicago, Ill.; Holly Hill, S.C.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Doral Fla.; and Philadelphia. Check out barbecue towns details here.
Earlier this week, Zagat named Arthur Bryant's to its list of 10 U...
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 Kansas Citians are more likely to have credit card data stolen than New Yorkers, according to survey results from antivirus program provider AVG Technologies.
Kansas City ranks 23rd among 35 U.S. cities at highest risk of being "digitally duped," AVG said Thursday.
The survey ranks cities based on their risk of email security breaches, credit card fraud, stolen identities and other hacked or lost personal data.
Kansas City is more secure than such cities as San Antonio (No. 1), St. Louis (No. 14) and Seattle (No...
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 Harmony Printing & Development Co. of Liberty has closed because of tough industry and economic conditions, as well as its financial shape.
The company said Friday that it was winding down operations and dissolving after more than 40 years.
“As with any company shutting its doors, this is a sad time for our employees," CEO Larry Wilson said in a written statement. "It has been a privilege to have worked with such fine people over the years, and I will greatly miss the camaraderie and teamwork that made Harmony such a special place to work...
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 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the top accounting firms in the Kansas City area by local professional staff numbers.
The top five companies on this year’s list reported 1,213 professional staff members. That’s 116 more than last year’s top five.
Here’s No. 5:
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 6
PricewaterhouseCoopers reported 200 professional staff members in the Kansas City area. The New York-based company recently announced John Martin as its Kansas City office managing partner, replacing James Gegg, who retired June 30...
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 Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza shopping district is adding a new store and shuffling some of its existing retailers.
Soma Intimates opens in October in a 2,112-square-foot space at 4725 Broadway. It will be joined by White House | Black Market and Chico’s, both of which are expanding and moving to Broadway in November, Plaza owner Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) announced Thursday.
White House | Black Market will double its size to 3,000 square feet at the corner of 47th and Broadway, and Chico’s will expand to 3,442 square feet at 4705 Broadway...
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Gyrasol Technologies, which focuses on treatments for cancer patients, will put its four-person office in the University of Kansas’ Bioscience & Technology Business Center, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.
The company plans to hire as many as 12 more people in the next two years. Gyrasol’s CEO, Susan Burgess, is a KU graduate.
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 H&R Block Inc.’s top financial executive said the company is selling its RSM McGladrey subsidiary to further shed any operations not connected to its core consumer tax business.
In an interview Thursday, CFO Jeff Brown said that keeping RSM, even though it does offer tax expertise as part of its business services portfolio, didn’t make business sense.
“This is a step toward returning our focus to a core tax business,” Brown said. “They certainly have a tax services practice, but really a different customer focus and not much in the way of strategic synergy between the two businesses...
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 B.B. Andersen has requested that a Jackson County Circuit Court judge nix Polsinelli Shughart PC’s agreement to lease West Edge.
The suit comes just two days after the Country Club Plaza law firm said it would consolidate its 500 employees in the stalled mixed-use development just off the Plaza. Andersen claimed Thursday that West Edge’s owner could not make such agreements without his permission.
Andersen’s petition is an addition to a lawsuit he filed in March to protest what he described as a conspiratorial effort to cut him out of a stake in a Cecil Van Tuyl-led entity, VA West Properties LLC, that bought West Edge out of bankruptcy for $9...
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 H&R Block Inc. recorded a larger loss in the first quarter, weighed down by costs from litigation and the pending sale of its RSM McGladrey division.
The Kansas City-based company (NYSE: HRB) on Thursday reported losing $175.1 million, or 57 cents a share, during the three months ending July 31. By comparison, it lost $130.7 million, or 41 cents a share, during the same period a year ago.
The company typically reports a loss during its first two fiscal quarters; it generates the majority of its annual revenue and profits during the U...
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 General Motors Co. has notched seven sales increases during the past eight months, but Kansas City-made vehicles didn’t drive the results in August.
GM’s (NYSE: GM) Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kan., produces the Chevy Malibu and the Buick LaCrosse. It employs 3,900.
LaCrosse sales edged up by 1.6 percent to 5,422, compared with August 2010.
But Malibu sales dipped by 1.9 percent to 17,840.
Overall, GM sales rose 18 percent to 218,479 in August.
“Our balanced portfolio of trucks and fuel-efficient vehicles like the Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain are helping GM continue to gain market share, which has now increased in seven of the past eight months,” Don Johnson, vice president of U...
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 The Ford Escape, a sport-utility vehicle produced at Ford Motor Co.’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo., accelerated sales by 39 percent to 20,607 during a strong August for the automaker.
Sales of F-Series trucks, including the F-150s produced at the Kansas City plant, rose 2 percent to 48,795.
Overall, Ford sold 175,220 vehicles in August, 11.2 percent more than in August 2010.
“Ford’s fuel-efficient cars, crossovers and trucks continue winning over customers in the marketplace,” Ken Czubay, a Ford vice president, said in a release...
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Kansas City job seekers had 1,200 new online help-wanted ads to sift through in August.
Local employers posted 23,500 new ads online during the month, up from 22,300 in July, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine Data Series. August’s number also represented a 23.6 percent increase from the same month last year. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
Total ad postings — new and existing — for the Kansas City area rose 13.6 percent to 34,200 compared with a year prior. According to the latest report from the U...
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 From Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, Christopher Elbow’s employees work almost every day of the week to meet holiday demand for his specialty chocolates.
Every sweet produced at Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates is handmade and takes about three days to complete, from painting the mold to mixing a filling containing all-fresh ingredients.
But once summer comes, the chocolate business slows down. So about a year ago, Elbow launched Glacé Artisan Ice Cream in Kansas City. The second scoop of that concept opened in early August in Leawood...
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 The AT&T/T-Mobile deal isn’t dead, Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse reminded a hometown audience Thursday. He also said Sprint isn’t opposed to a potential merger of its own.
Hesse lauded the U.S. Department of Justice’s review of AT&T Inc.’s (NYSE: T) proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile — a review that prompted the department to file a civil antitrust lawsuit Wednesday to stop the transaction because of concern that it would harm wireless market competition.
Hesse said the department is protecting the competitive American wireless market from becoming a duopoly that would lead to less innovation and higher prices...
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 So, what’s new today?
We’ve got an answer for you. It’s our Morning Briefing.
On Thursday, the Kansas City Business Journal launched a new, free email service that gives you a running start on the news of the day.
Morning Briefing offers summaries of stories from the Business Journal and our national network of affiliated business publications — as well as news from other media outlets. We’re scouring newspapers throughout the metro area, region and even nation; we’re also looking at news feeds from broadcast sites, blogs and government websites...
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 Kansas Citians, your barbecue is getting some tasty national recognition. Local favorite Arthur Bryant’s made a Zagat list of the nation’s best barbecue joints.
The report praised 81-year-old Arthur Bryant’s tomato-molasses sauce and its burnt ends and pork ribs.
The 10 U.S. Barbecue Meccas list, which The Huffington Post ranked (with Arthur Bryant’s in the No. 4 slot), was based on a Zagat survey. But we know Kansas Citians can be particular about their barbecue — what BBQ joint would you have picked?
A St...
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An iPhone 5 prototype was lost in a San Francisco bar, just more than a year after an iPhone 4 prototype went missing in a restaurant, CNET reports.
Quoting unnamed sources, CNET reported that Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) contacted San Francisco police seeking help finding the phone. But apparently police found nothing.
CNET reported that the phone may have been sold on Craigslist for $200.
Last year’s disappearance of the iPhone 4 prototype, which was sold for $5,000, prompted a criminal investigation that brought two misdemeanor charges...
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