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October 2011 - Posts
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Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sprint Nextel Corp.’s junk credit rating because of big spending on tap tied to the iPhone and network improvements.
Here is Fitch’s release from Business Wire:
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings for Sprint Nextel Corporation and its subsidiaries as follows:
Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint Nextel);
--Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’;
--Senior unsecured notes to ‘B+/RR4’ from ‘BB-’.
Sprint Capital Corporation;
--IDR to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’;
--Senior unsecured notes to ‘B+/RR4’ from ‘BB-’...
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 Truman Medical Center-Lakewood has opened a new labor and delivery department, which is expected to increase the number of births the hospital can handle.
The Lakewood Family Birthplace officially opened Sunday with the delivery of its first baby, the hospital said Monday.
The 19-bed facility relocates and replaces the hospital’s existing 11-bed labor and delivery department and also adds a number of amenities becoming standard for hospital birthing centers, including larger rooms to accommodate family member stays, wide-screen televisions, whirlpool tubs and queen-sized delivery beds...
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Kansas City’s local income base ranks 26th of 366 metros, but its growth pace ranked in the bottom half of the list.
Kansas City’s total personal income in 2010 was $85.22 billion, according to an analysis by The Business Journals of data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The metro’s TPI grew by an annual rate of 3.64 percent between 2000 and 2010.
TPI is the total amount of money earned by all residents of a given area in a given year, including everything from wages and salaries to dividends and welfare checks...
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 Monday is National Boss Day, and most of us like our bosses, according to a survey of working Americans by staffing firm Adecco Group North America.
In the survey, 59 percent of those polled said they would not change a thing about their bosses, but about a third (32 percent) said their bosses could change for the better. Among those who’d like their bosses to change, the highest complaints included that they aren't nice enough to employees and think only about themselves.
Not being qualified for the job, not dressing professionally and taking too many days off were other complaints...
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A St. Louis-area pharmaceutical company is suing its former chairman and CEO, trying to get out of paying him $36.9 million in retirement benefits, as well as legal expenses, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
KV Pharmaceutical Co. filed the lawsuit against Marc Hermelin earlier this month, claiming that he breached his fiduciary obligations to the company by allegedly shipping oversized painkillers to pharmacies.
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Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC says it’s “made a good-faith offer” to union employees, proposing competitive benefits and some of the highest hourly pay rates in the Kansas City area. It also pointed to big local investments and more than 1,500 construction jobs tied to a new facility.
The operator of Kansas City’s Bannister Federal Complex — the primary U.S. source for manufacturing, assembling and procuring non-nuclear components needed to maintain the nation’s nuclear stockpile — was responding to a complaint that striking union workers filed earlier this week with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that Honeywell has been bargaining “in bad faith...
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 The University of Missouri-Kansas City is expanding its Doctor of Pharmacy degree program to include students attending Missouri State University in Springfield.
Gov. Jay Nixon announced the expansion during a Friday event in Springfield, where representatives of the two schools formally signed the agreement.
UMKC’s School of Pharmacy will begin offering the four-year professional program in Springfield in the fall of 2014.
This is the second expansion for UMKC’s program, which also includes pharmacy students at the University of Missouri-Columbia...
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 Average U.S. starting salaries will be about 3.4 percent higher next year, according to staffing firm Robert Half International.
The biggest increase will be 4.5 percent in base pay for technology jobs, the 2012 Salary Guides from Robert Half International predicted. Professionals in accounting and finance, as well as creative and marketing fields, will see a 3.5 percent gain.
Starting salaries in the legal field are expected to average a smaller increase of 1.9 percent.
Administrative professionals will see a predicted 3...
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 Andrew Ross Sorkin clearly remembers 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2008.
It was 45 minutes after Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy, five hours after Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America and 32 hours before the $85 billion government bailout of AIG. He woke his wife, wanting to discuss a situation that seemed like a movie script. Not happy to have her sleep interrupted, she told him to write a book. So he did.
A speech in Kansas City by the author of “Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System,” tried to offer perspective about many of the economic troubles the country faces today by looking at its scrape with financial disaster in 2008...
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 Frontier Airlines will add nonstop service from Kansas City to Orlando, Fla., starting in January.
The airline, which has a hub at Kansas City International Airport (Code: MCI), said the seasonal service will go from Jan. 5 through April 15, starting at four days a week and increasing to six days a week on Feb. 23.
The 99-seat aircraft used on the route won’t have middle seats and will have extra legroom available. Introductory fares will start at $79 each way.
The Orlando route will bring Frontier to 19 nonstop destinations from KCI...
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 Amtrak is making a temporary change to the schedule for its Missouri River Runner Train 314, which leaves Kansas City for St. Louis every morning.
From Oct. 16-20, the train will leave Union Station at 6 a.m. instead of its normally scheduled 8:15 a.m. departure time. That has the train arriving in St. Louis at 11:40 a.m. instead of 1:55 p.m.
The change is being made to accommodate repair work to Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) railroad lines between Independence and Lee’s Summit — lines that Amtrak also uses, Missouri Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kristi Jamison said.
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 The effort to build a Kansas network for sharing electronic patient records among health care providers finally is getting a leader.
Board members for the Kansas Health Information Exchange Inc. announced late Thursday that they have hired Bill Wallace as the group’s first CEO, effective immediately.
Wallace, previously senior vice president for information systems and claims for insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, will take over the process of getting an exchange up and running, KHIE Chairwoman Karen Braman said...
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Get a sneak peek inside Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, a $411 million project that is set to open in February. The Kansas City Business Journal website includes a video and photos of the project.
Construction and finish work continues on the Kansas City, Kan., structure, which is the first land-based casino in the Kansas City market.
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 Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway is racing toward its projected opening date in February 2012, but the $411 million project still has a few laps to go to reach the finish line.
Construction and finish work continues on the structure, which is the first big land-based casino in the Kansas City market. The Kansas Lottery will operate the casino, which is a sister casino with Argosy Casino & Hotel Kansas City.
TOUR: Watch the video at the right or view the image gallery to see inside the casino
The 95,000-square-foot casino floor will have five different eateries, 2,000 slot machines, 12 poker tables and 40 other game tables, including blackjack, roulette and craps...
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The University of Kansas ranks third in the nation for how much it spends on basketball, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
KU spent $10.98 million on its basketball program, with $1.7 million in game-day expenses, according to 2009-2010 season data assembled by our affiliate, the Memphis Business Journal.
The University of Missouri and Kansas State University had much lower stats, ranking 41st and 46th, respectively.
Read more from the KCBJ.
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 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the top office equipment companies in the Kansas City area by number of local employees.
The year’s list saw a lot of changes, including an acquisition among two of last year’s Top 5 companies. Subscribers can read about the transaction in this week’s edition.
Here’s No. 5:
Perfect Output of Kansas City LLC
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 2
Perfect Output of Kansas City LLC reported 54 Kansas City-area employees. The company also ranked No...
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Gap Inc. will close at least 100 more Gap brand stores in the United States by the end of 2013 as it seeks to shrink its real estate footprint.
The company’s plan to reduce its retail store ranks to 700 by the end of 2013 means cutting North America square footage by 10 percent by the end of next year, compared with 2007.
The company (NYSE: GPS) also plans to downsize its Old Navy square footage in North America, which could eliminate 1 million square feet by the end of 2013, though the store count will stay about 1,020...
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The Kansas insurance market for small businesses and individuals was highly concentrated around a small number of insurers in 2010, which could complicate efforts to create a statewide insurance exchange, a new report says.
Missouri was considered more open, with moderate concentration.
In a study released Thursday, the Kaiser Family Foundation measured the relative competitiveness of state insurance markets throughout the country, based on 2010 insurance filings and other data.
It found that in a majority of states and the District of Columbia, a single carrier held at least half of the market share for both types of insurance last year...
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The Kansas City Business Journal has named its first ImpacT Award winners.
A panel of judges chose 15 companies whose technology-based solutions created tangible benefits in one of five categories: client interface, cutting expenses, efficiency, environmental impact and top line.
Companies that won the inaugural award range from 15-person boutique agency Meers Advertising to UMB Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: UMBF), which has about 2,000 local employees.
The common denominator among winning companies was their ability to leverage technology to bring organizational change...
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 The percentage of uninsured people in Kansas City-area counties largely rose between 2008 and 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The agency on Thursday released its first county-level information about health insurance coverage, using data from the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE), a program typically used to target screenings for *** and cervical cancer.
Wyandotte County led the region with 21.2 percent of its residents uncovered, compared with 18.6 percent in 2008. Leavenworth County went from 11...
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 Commerce Bancshares Inc. saw a 16.9 percent increase in third quarter-earnings compared with last year, thanks mainly to a stronger loan portfolio and corresponding lower need for loan-loss reserves.
Kansas City-based Commerce Bancshares (Nasdaq: CBSH), the holding company for Commerce Bank, reported earnings of $65.4 million, or 76 cents a share, for the three months that ended Sept. 30. That’s up from $55.9 million a year prior.
The bank’s provision for loan losses, a required cash amount a bank must keep on hand to cover loans at risk of default, declined 47...
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The Kansas City Area Development Council’s board of directors has named Steve Doyal to join Leo Morton as co-chair of the regional economic development organization.
Doyal, senior vice president of public affairs at Hallmark Cards Inc., and Leo Morton, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will help guide the KCADC together.
Doyal will replace Pat McCown, CEO of McCownGordon Construction LLC, whose term as KCADC co-chair expires on Nov. 1.
“Hallmark has been involved with the Kansas City Area Development Council since its founding in 1976, and I am honored to represent our organization as KCADC’s co-chairman in promoting Kansas City as the crossroads of American creativity and innovation,” Doyal said in a written statement.
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 Two initiative petitions calling for Missouri’s state income tax to be replaced with an expanded sales tax have been approved to circulate in Missouri.
The first would amend the state constitution to increase the state sales tax from 4 percent to 5 percent on food and 7 percent on everything else, while capping cumulative state and local sales taxes at 10 percent.
The second would be similar with the addition of a property tax credit for homeowners.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced Wednesday that the petitions met state standards for circulation...
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Construction at the crossing of Interstates 435 and 70 in Kansas City will cause a detour from Oct. 19-27, the Missouri Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
The ramp from southbound I-435 to eastbound I-70 is set to close after the Oct. 19 morning rush hour and reopen at 5 a.m. on Oct. 27 as MoDOT finishes a collector/distributor ramp system between I-435 and eastbound I-70.
Traffic will be routed onto westbound I-70 to the Manchester exit, then to eastbound I-70.
MoDOT is working on a $39...
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BlackBerry has been bleeding market share, struggling to sell its tablets and battling investor and media criticism for its leadership, and now it’s suffering from a wave of service interruptions, Portfolio.com reports.
The interruptions hit millions of BlackBerry’s smartphone users throughout Europe and the Middle East, and disruptions have spread to the United States and Canada.
The Wall Street Journal reports that although service still is experiencing some delays, recovery is progressing well...
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Congress broke a stalemate that endured two presidencies in passing free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, The New York Times reports.
Approval of the deals, a rare example of bipartisanship, hands a victory to President Obama and to backers of foreign trade as a vehicle for reviving the economy.
Although the economic benefit is projected to be small, the deals’ passage represents a political achievement and helps foreign policy by solidifying relationships with key allies...
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An audit of North Kansas City’s finances rated the city’s performance as “good,” despite a fast-falling general fund balance and a city-owned fiber-optic network that has performed poorly.
The report from the Missouri Auditor’s Office was the result of a citizen’s petition: 291 North Kansas City voters requested the audit in April amid questions about how the city was spending its money.
The state’s audit found that the general fund’s balance has dropped from nearly $7 million in 2008 to a budgeted balance of $558,991 in 2011...
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 Go to YouTube and search for “building demolition.”
You’ll find lots of exciting stuff — mostly videos showing dramatic explosions of high-rise buildings. On occasion, you’ll find demolitions that went poorly, such as this one, which is even more dramatic.
If you poke around long enough, you’ll find a Kansas City example: the demolition of the West Edge project near Country Club Plaza.
But our local building takedown, which started last week, will be much more low-key. As you can see from these videos, tearing apart West Edge is less like watching a sand castle disintegrate and more like seeing a child take Lego inventions apart block by block...
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 American Airlines Inc. plans to cut seats from Kansas City to Chicago by nearly a third as part of broader fall and winter cutbacks.
But the change involves smaller, not fewer flights: The carrier is keeping flight frequency at seven daily departures to Chicago, even though the number of seats will shrink to about 76 seats per flight, said Justin Meyer, manager of air service development for the Kansas City Aviation Department. That’s down by 32 percent compared with December 2010.
American (NYSE: AMR) serves two markets from Kansas City International Airport (Code: MCI): Dallas and Chicago...
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 Brightergy LLC is fueling an expansion into Boston with a $2.5 million boost from investors, the company announced Wednesday.
The Lenexa-based solar energy company said it would announce additional Northeast regional offices soon. The Boston office will start with 10 employees, but the company plans to hire 15 more, Brightergy CEO Adam Blake said in an email. Brightergy’s local office has 30 employees.
“Our base of operations remains here — it is our home,” Susan Brown, business development vice president, said in an email...
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 Bernstein-Rein laid off several employees Tuesday, saying business is shifting toward digital roles.
President Steve Bernstein declined to specify the number let go but confirmed that rumors of nine layoffs are “in the ballpark.”
Still, he said the Kansas City-based agency has been hiring for social media and digital positions, leaving the number of employees stable around 225.
“I don’t like laying off anybody. Even a handful of people is a sad thing for us,” Bernstein said. “Everybody knows the economy is causing everybody to make adjustments...
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 Genghis Grill-The Mongolian Stir Fry in the Kansas City Power & Light District is closing, adding to the tenant changes of the past year.
Daniel Albert, owner and operator of the franchise restaurant, said the operation fought for more than two years but didn’t make any money in the eight-block downtown entertainment district.
“We came here expecting great things, and it’s been a nightmare since signing the lease,” Albert said.
But Nick Benjamin, executive director of the Power & Light District, said Genghis Grill is being evicted for not paying rent...
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Shifting consumer tastes are driving the impending closing of three Crown Center restaurants, one official says.
Rick Brown, manager of marketing for Kansas City’s Crown Center complex, said Benton’s Prime Steakhouse, Skies Restaurant & Lounge and The Peppercorn Duck Club will close at the end of business Nov. 30. All three are in the Hyatt Regency Crown Center, which will transition to management by Starwood Hotels & Resorts on the same date.
Brown said that Crown Center asked Starwood to evaluate dining options in the space during the process of converting the Hyatt to the Sheraton flag and that the three restaurants ended up on the chopping block...
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Representatives for striking employees of Kansas City’s Bannister Federal Complex are meeting with a National Labor Relations Board agent Wednesday morning to “provide evidence for charges of bargaining in bad faith” against plant operator Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, according to the local union’s website.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 voted 85.45 percent to strike at midnight Monday after failing to ratify a new contract with Honeywell...
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It’s the most downloaded free music program in Apple Inc. and Google Inc.’s app stores, but Pandora Media Inc.’s online music service is not getting traction with mobile advertisers, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
In New York and Los Angeles, Pandora draws more listeners than those cities' biggest radio stations, but it may take the company until fiscal 2014 to land a profit.
Analysts speculate that one reason Pandora isn’t attracting marketers is because it’s creating new types of advertising geared to a variety of audiences, a format foreign to most companies.
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The Senate Republicans scuttled President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan Tuesday, leaving Congress and the White House to decide whether to continue fighting on the measure or move toward a bipartisan compromise, the Washington Post reports.
The Senate killed the plan on a 50-49 vote, falling far short of the 60 votes needed to crack a GOP filibuster by lawmakers opposed to its stimulus spending and taxes on the very rich.
The Obama administration and lawmakers now will need to look at alternative ways to address the nation’s unemployment crisis.
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 Ascension Insurance Inc. announced its fifth acquisition this year, an insurance company that will help expand its niche in the education and amateur athletics markets.
Kansas City-based Ascension announced Tuesday that it acquired Fred Lewis Agency, based in Kingsland, Texas, for an undisclosed amount. The Fred Lewis Agency is a national insurance practice that specializes in providing insurance and risk management for the educational, recreational and sports communities. It now will become part of Ascension’s Summit America operations, which Ascension acquired in September 2010...
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 A 122-acre manufacturing and warehouse facility at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City will be marketed for sale or lease by the federal government in late 2014.
The National Nuclear Security Administration declared that 1.2 million square feet of manufacturing space and an additional 1.6 million square feet of manufacturing support and office space at the Kansas City Plant was declared surplus property within the Bannister Federal Complex.
A notice of availability the NNSA posted Tuesday described the 122-acre surplus property as zoned for heavy industrial use and within a mixed-use development that has residential, commercial and industrial properties nearby...
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The Kansas City, Mo., School District has cut back on shoddy contracting procedures and other waste to stabilize its finances, but more improvement is needed, according to a state audit released Tuesday.
The district did not competitivey bid and monitor all contracts in recent years, and some contracts were unsigned or had amendments that were not in writing, Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich said.
Since 2008, the district has spent nearly $2 million on student incentives and more than $2 million on food without proper documentation to support the purchases, according to his report...
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 The coming decade is going to be a make-or-break one for health care providers in terms of reining in the exploding cost of health care.
That was the message Cerner Corp. CEO Neal Patterson gave Tuesday during a keynote speech to some of the 10,000 customers, partners and employees gathered this week at the North Kansas City-based company’s annual conference at Bartle Hall.
“The reality is you cannot base paying for health care today by passing the cost off on our kids,” Patterson said. “We’re in a squeeze...
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 Three of Kansas City’s four riverboat casinos posted an increase in revenue for September 2011 from the same period last year.
Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City was the only casino to record less revenue. Isle of Capri Kansas City was the only casino to see more patrons in the period, with a 3.7 percent increase to 133,600 people.
The top performer in revenue was Harrah’s North Kansas City, which saw a 4.2 percent increase from September 2010, with $16.26 million in revenue. Despite this increase, the casino saw a 6...
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 The Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon with Ivy Funds is expected to generate a $3 million economic benefit for the community this week.
The event, a qualifier for the Boston Marathon, will have 11,000 participants from 44 states and 10 countries. It is expected to draw 30,000 spectators. It takes about 1,400 volunteers to staff the event.
The festivities start with a Health & Fitness Expo on Thursday and Friday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Crown Center. The expo is presented by Chobani Greek Yogurt and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City...
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 An Olathe business will be manufacturing supplies for what is being called the largest-ever government study of tobacco use in the United States.
Hooper Holmes said Tuesday that it has been selected to lead biological sample collection for the study being conducted by research firm Westat on behalf of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s the first large-scale regulatory study since Congress gave the FDA the authority in 2009 to regulate tobacco products...
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IronStone Bank completed its conversion to the First Citizens Bank name effective Tuesday.
In January, IronStone merged with North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank, becoming a division of the bank. Before that, IronStone had a federal savings bank charter and was owned by First Citizens Bank’s holding company, First Citizens BancShares Inc.
“Unifying our IronStone franchise under the First Citizens banner enhances our national brand,” First Citizens Chairman and CEO Frank Holding said in a release...
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Alaska Airlines plans to begin service to Kansas City International Airport next year, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The airline announced Tuesday that it would begin daily nonstop service between KCI and Seattle on March 12.
To introduce the new route, Alaska Airline is offering $99 on-way tickets between Seattle and Kansas City, although the tickets have to purchased by Oct. 18 and used through May 23.
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A stretch of Interstate 35 heading to downtown Kansas City through Wyandotte County could shrink to one lane each way during parts of the next two weekends, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The Kansas Department of Transportation said its pavement marking project stretching from Southwest Boulevard to the Kansas/Missouri state line will have a speed limit of 50 miles an hour.
KDOT will use message boards to inform drivers about lane and ramp closings.
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A stretch of Interstate 35 linking downtown Kansas City and Johnson County could shrink to one lane each way during parts of the next two weekends, the Kansas Department of Transportation said Monday.
The pavement marking project on the north and southbound roadways will go from Southwest Boulevard to the Kansas/Missouri state line. The work zone will have a speed limit of 50 miles an hour.
The round-the-clock work will start at 7 p.m. on the next two Fridays, reopening to all traffic at 5 a.m...
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 Garney Construction has named longtime employee Michael Heitmann as its new CEO.
He most recently led development of water and wastewater offerings for the Kansas City-based company, which specializes in water-related construction projects. But Heitmann has worked at Garney since graduating from the University of Kansas.
“Garney started as a family company, and even though we’ve expanded considerably, we’re still a family of more than 700 employee-owners,” Charles Garney, company founder and board member, said in a release...
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Great Southern Bank acquired Sun Security Bank on Friday, expanding its branch network by more than a quarter.
Sun Security Bank, an Ellington, Mo., bank that regulators shut down Friday, had 27 locations in central and southern Missouri. Great Southern Bank acquired $287 million in deposits, $245 million in loans and $35 million in other real estate owned at a discount of $55 million in a deal that involves a loss-sharing agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Sun Security Bank branches reopened under the Great Southern Bank name on Saturday morning...
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 The rebranding of Kansas City’s Hyatt Regency Crown Center has been moved to Nov. 30, hastening the date of a change that will affect 337 jobs.
The hotel is set to become the Sheraton Crown Center under a new management agreement, announced in July, between Crown Center Redevelopment Corp. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. The agreement, which initially had an effective date of Jan. 1, will bring both Crown Center hotels, as well as Milano Italian Restaurant and the Crayola Café, under the Starwood brand...
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 Union National Mortgage Co. has acquired the Kansas City office of Mid America Financial Services and is looking to expand further in the Kansas City area.
Residential retail lender Union National Mortgage is a relative newcomer to the Kansas City area — local sales manager Mike Leech set up shop in Lee’s Summit about two years ago. In April, the company acquired the local Mid America Financial Services office for an undisclosed amount, giving it a presence in Kansas City’s Northland.
It’s busy integrating that purchase and also looking to open an office in Overland Park “very soon” so it can better cover the Kansas City area, Leech said...
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 Kansas City International Airport in August experienced the largest year-to-year passenger increase since 2009, with counts soaring 5.8 percent compared with the same period last year.
KCI has seen year-to-year increases almost every month since September 2010 as the aviation industry continues to regain altitude from the recession and sluggish recovery. The airport (Code: MCI) recorded 910,256 arriving and departing passengers in August, according to the Kansas City Aviation Department.
Boardings alone also rose 5...
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 Kansas City Mayor Sly James has named Tom McDonnell, DST Systems Inc. CEO, and Madeline Romious, a vice president with AT&T Inc., as co-chairs of the city’s economic development strategic planning process.
McDonnell and Romious, both familiar with Kansas City’s development scene, will help guide hired consultants from Market Street and elected officials to develop long-term development strategies.
The committee’s findings, for which there is no current timetable for completion, will be used to advise Economic Development Corp...
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 The head of Kansas City’s AFL-CIO union group is adding his voice to those of protesters locally and nationally who are aggravated with the state of the economy, big business, the tough labor market and politicians.
“People are frustrated — and angry — and it isn’t hard to see why,” Kansas City AFL-CIO President Duke Dujakovich said in a written statement Monday. “Our city and state (have) been hit hard by the wrecking ball of out-of-control corporate greed. With an unemployment rate that is still painfully high, families are continuing to lose their homes and their hope...
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 Verizon Wireless is taking its fourth-generation network beyond the bounds of Kansas City International Airport, extending it into the metro area next month.
The wireless carrier said Monday that it would expand its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to Kansas City on Nov. 17.
Covered areas will include: Kansas City, Parkville, Gladstone, Liberty, Claycomo, North Kansas City, Independence, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Lee’s Summit, Grandview, Belton, Raymore, Bonner Springs, Shawnee, Mission, Prairie Village, Lenexa, Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood and Kansas City, Kan...
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 Shawnee Mission Medical Center has a new chief operating officer.
The 504-bed facility now has Trevor Wright filling the position vacated by Joyce Portela in the summer of 2009.
Wright has 19 years of experience in operations and human resources management, most recently as associate administrator for the 436-bed Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Calif. He also has worked with acute-care and medical practice consultancy Studer Group.
Wright started in the new job on Aug...
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Employees of Kansas City's Bannister Federal Complex are on strike, seeking better pay and benefits, Fox4 reports.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers local 778 voted down a six-year contract with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, which runs the plant. Workers said the contract proposed slicing pay for new hires by as much as half and cutting pension plans.
Read more at Fox4.
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American Airlines stock is losing altitude because of a bankruptcy rumor, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
The airline, one of the larger carriers at Kansas City International Airport with about 8.3 percent market share last year, has about $4.2 billion in cash and short-term securities and still has capacity to borrow. But parent company AMR Corp. has been recording losses since 2008 — it lost $722 million during the first half of 2011, even as most airlines are profitable, the report said...
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Bond ratings have been important to business forever. The better the rating, the better the bonds, the easier to sell the bonds and people want to buy good bonds. Recent media attention has pretty well educated all of us on the importance of bond ratings to our federal government, like whether we default and blow up or not.
However, few pay attention to local governments, which also have bond ratings. They do the same thing. If their rating is AAA, they borrow money cheaply and save the taxpayers money in interest payments...
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 The former Bannister Mall site in Kansas City could become the next battleground in the border war between Kansas and Missouri after reports that Teva Neuroscience Inc. soon will be looking for a new home.
The Missouri House on Thursday passed a jobs bill that would offer as much as $30 million in tax credits to help redevelop the 215-acre site at Interstate 435 and Bannister Road.
The mall site’s developer, Trails Properties II, is pitching “attractive deals” for office space to several entities, said the group’s attorney, Chase Simmons of Polsinelli Shughart PC...
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 U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill met with Missouri and local officials Friday to discuss the most pressing transportation needs of the Kansas City area.
But McCaskill, D-Mo., and LaHood also used the meeting at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence to ask for help in lobbying Congress to pass President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan.
“We’re trying to persuade Congress that if they really want to put friends and neighbors to work, put the country to work and get the economy going, to pass the American Jobs Act, pass a surface transportation bill, and we’ll show you how to do it,” LaHood said...
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Later this month, Children’s Mercy South plans to upgrade its urgent care center to a pediatric emergency department, allowing the hospital to treat patients with broken bones and other serious conditions.
Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics announced Friday that its facility at Interstate 435 and Nall Avenue in Overland Park will open the Tom Watson Emergency Department, the only full-time pediatric emergency service provider in Kansas, on Oct. 24.
The existing 24-hour urgent care center, designed to deal with important but less serious cases such as ear infections and colds, recorded 55,000 patient visits in fiscal 2010, up 67 percent from 2005, the hospital said...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp. is preparing to clear all Clearwire Corp. network-compatible phones and devices from its lineup by the end of 2012.
The Overland Park-based wireless carrier (NYSE: S) announced details of its fourth-generation data network build-out Friday during a meeting for investors and analysts in New York. Sprint calls planning for this network, which will streamline Sprint’s CDMA network with fourth-generation LTE technology, its “Network Vision.”
Sprint’s president of network operations, Steve Elfman, said the new 4G network will go live in the summer, the Associated Press reported...
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 A chunk of Interstate 29 north of Kansas City will reopen at 10 a.m. Saturday after a months-long shutdown due to flooding, an Iowa Department of Transportation spokeswoman said Friday.
IDOT had said the roadway would reopen later this week but had not set a specific time.
The roughly 45 miles of interstate from Rock Port, Mo., to U.S. Highway 34 near Pacific Junction, Iowa, (see the map below) had been closed since June 15 because of a swollen Missouri River.
The Missouri Department of Transportation will reopen its portion of the route as soon as Iowa gives the word that its piece is open, Melissa Black, customer relations manager, said Friday...
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A chunk of Interstate 29 north of Kansas City will reopen at 10 a.m. Saturday after a months-long shutdown due to flooding, an Iowa Department of Transportation spokeswoman said Friday.
IDOT had said the roadway would reopen later this week but had not set a specific time.
The roughly 45 miles of interstate from Rock Port, Mo., to U.S. Highway 34 near Pacific Junction, Iowa, (see the map below) had been closed since June 15 because of a swollen Missouri River.
The Missouri Department of Transportation will reopen its portion of the route as soon as Iowa gives the word that its piece is open, Melissa Black, customer relations manager, said Friday...
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Cerner Corp. has agreed to buy Clairvia Inc., a North Carolina company whose software helps health care organizations coordinate staffing, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
Cerner, a health care technology company based in North Kansas City (Nasdaq: CERN), said the purchase of Clairvia should close in October. The company did not disclose terms of the deal, but said the acquisition would not have a material impact on its 2011 financial performance.
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The latest jobs report provided some surprisingly good news: The United States added more jobs than expected last month, The New York Times reports.
However, that was partly because of the end of a strike that kept 45,000 Verizon telecom workers away from their jobs, reports said.
U.S. employers added 103,000 jobs last month and the jobless rate held steady at 9.1 percent. That pushes back some dim predictions of a double-dip recession, the Times reports.
Kansas City's unemployment rate rose to 8...
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A labor union plans to file a 20-page report on Friday asking the feds to let AT&T Inc. move ahead with its planned $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA Inc., Bloomberg reports.
In the letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, the Communications Workers of America said blocking the deal would cost “significant and tangible benefits,” according to Bloomberg.
The combination of the nation’s second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers prompted the Justice Department to file an antitrust lawsuit...
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About $4 billion in federal money went to community banks this year to drive lending to small businesses. But more than half of it went to repay bailout loans, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Many banks channeled the money toward repaying Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, which come with higher costs and more restrictions, the report said.
The money was given to smaller banks because they typically lend more to small businesses. That lending was expected to bolster growth and jobs.
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 The Missouri House on Thursday passed a version of a tax credits and business incentives bill that adds credits for Kansas City’s Bannister Mall redevelopment project.
But the General Assembly’s special session is veering toward a perilous conclusion that could have lawmakers going home with little to show for it. Some legislators said the House bill won’t pass the smell test in the Senate when the chambers try to reconcile the differences between the bills.
“I think what they are going to do is go to conference, and in conference it will be an absolute stalemate,” said Rep...
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 YRC Worldwide Inc. shareholders are being asked to approve what could be a massive reverse-stock split as the company tries to rein in its almost 2 billion outstanding shares.
In a Thursday regulatory filing ahead of its annual shareholder meeting, the Overland Park-based trucking company (Nasdaq: YRCW) said it will seek the approval, which would give the YRC board a year to implement the split. The move could range from offering one new share for every 50 current shares to one for every 300.
Although the date of the annual meeting was not provided in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, YRC previously said it expected to hold the meeting around Nov...
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 Johnson County Community College has received almost $2.9 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to beef up education programs about health information technology systems.
The grant, part of more than $159 million distributed among 20 states and the District of Columbia, was financed through fees paid by employers to bring foreign workers into the United States in the H1-B Technical Skills Training program. The grants are aimed at boosting U.S. workers’ technical skills so that businesses have less need to use the program...
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 Demdaco, a company known for its whimsical figurines, is branching out into plush creations. The expansion means adding 14 account executives to the company’s 92 U.S. sales representatives.
The Leawood company’s new plush division, to be branded Nat & Jules, will offer teddy bears, beanies, dolls, baby products and hard goods such as picture frames and keepsake boxes, according to a Thursday release. Products will be ready to ship to customers on Jan. 1.
The Nat & Jules brand makes five for Demdaco, which has done an accelerated launch of the brand to address a void in the market, a spokeswoman said...
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 The Kansas City Animal Health Corridor Advisory Board has appointed Ceva Animal Health executive Craig Wallace as its new chairman.
The advisory board, which oversees efforts to attract animal science companies to the region and increase opportunities for companies already here, voted late Tuesday to tap Wallace, who is Ceva’s North America Zone director. Ceva has its North American headquarters in Lenexa.
The group also voted to make Kostas Kontopanos, U.S. president for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, the board’s vice chairman...
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 The annual United Way of Greater Kansas City fundraising drive ropes in many local companies, but the initiatives are far from all business.
Burns & McDonnell organized a root beer pong tournament to raise funds, and CommunityAmerica Credit Union hosted a dessert cook-off, said Ron Howard, public relations director for the United Way of Greater Kansas City. Many other businesses also have joined in the effort to spice up fundraising.
“They want to do something that they would enjoy as part of a fundraiser,” Howard said...
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 The death of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs roughly six weeks after he left the company sent far-reaching waves, even through Kansas City.
Jobs, 56, was among the tech world’s most recognizable figures. Through his leadership, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) became synonymous with innovations, such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod, that generated a devoted consumer following.
“All of us at Sprint are sorry to hear about Steve’s passing,” Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse said in a statement provided to the Kansas City Business Journal...
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 Tom Bowser, the former CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, and his wife, Judy, have pledged $4 million to the University of Kansas.
The Olathe couple made the commitment through the nonprofit KU Endowment to be split evenly among the University of Kansas Cancer Center, Kansas Athletics, the School of Music and the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Tom Bowser graduated from the KU journalism school in 1968; Judy Bowser received a KU bachelor’s degree in music education in 1969...
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Steve Jobs, who helped change the worlds of computing, telecommunications and music, died Wednesday, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports.
The co-founder of Apple Inc. had suffered from a rare form of pancreatic cancer for the past several years. Jobs stepped down as CEO of the company earlier this year.
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal coverage includes stories on Jobs’ life and career, the rise of Apple and reaction from the tech industry.
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The Ambassador Hotel Kansas City is scheduled to open in a historic former bank building in June, KCTV reports.
The Ambassador Hotel Collection set an opening date for the 43-room boutique hotel. The company is renovating the former Gate City National Bank Building at 1111 Grand Blvd., with a price tag of $11 million, KCTV reported.
Kansas City has aided the project with tax abatements and $4 million in tax-exempt bonds.
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Sprint Nextel Corp. is keeping its unlimited data plans for iPhones, which will run between $99 and $399 a device at Sprint, a company spokeswoman told the Kansas City Business Journal on Wednesday.
Overland Park-based Sprint (NYSE: S), which Apple Inc. announced Tuesday as a new iPhone partner, will charge the same for iPhone calling and data plans as it does for other units, but it’s offering tiered pricing for the iPhone4S itself.
Sprint’s true unlimited talk, text and data plan costs $109...
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 Rush Tracking Systems, formerly based in Lenexa, has a new name after a summer merger with a Delaware company, though the brand will continue.
The 15-employee Rush Tracking is keeping its name as a brand, but the July union with Sky-Trax Inc., a location-based data tracking company, prompted executives to rename the joint entity TotalTrax Inc.
TotalTrax is based in New Castle, Del., but it now has regional offices in the Kansas City metro area and in Graham, Texas.
TotalTrax announced Wednesday that it had acquired the equipment-monitoring product line of ShockWatch Inc...
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 Kevin Keith, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, said Wednesday that the agency’s plan to cut jobs, close facilities and sell equipment has resulted in $177 million being redirected to road and bridge projects.
Keith told the six members of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission that as of Sept. 30, the department had eliminated 667 staff positions, closed 23 facilities and disposed of 245 pieces of equipment.
Those moves have allowed the department to save $177 million since March 2010, when the agency began chopping its budget...
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HepaCart Inc. is trying to capitalize on its early success by launching new products, including one that has received high marks at industry trade shows.
Shawnee-based HepaCart’s products primarily are used by contractors or maintenance staff working at hospitals. The products lock into place and create negative air pressure to prevent dust or contaminants stirred up by work above a ceiling or general construction from spreading through a building.
In 2007, the company launched the HepaCart, a mobile unit that locks into place and allows ceiling access...
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Anthony Crompton, one of the developers of the Citadel Plaza redevelopment project in Kansas City, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to improperly handling asbestos at the site.
Crompton pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Clean Air Act. A second count was dismissed.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
A June 2010 indictment alleged that Crompton, as real estate director for the Community Development Corp. of Kansas City, and William Threatt Jr...
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 Kansas and Missouri lost thousands of high-tech jobs last year, but the states had plenty of company, according to a new report from the TechAmerica Foundation.
Also, those jobs still pay much better than average, and researchers said there’s potential for a rebound.
Missouri, which has the larger high-tech labor force, took a smaller hit, according to Cyberstates 2011: The Definitive State-by-State Analysis of the U.S. High-Tech Industry. Employment in the sector shrunk by 4,600 net jobs and landed at 89,000, making Missouri the No...
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 The U.S. job market signaled further weakness last month: Payroll firm ADP Inc. estimated that private employers added a moderate 91,000 jobs, and outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that planned layoffs surged.
The economy continues to lose steam from the job-creation momentum it demonstrated in the first quarter. According to totals from ADP National Employment Reports, employers added 598,000 jobs to private payrolls in January, February and March. But in the second quarter, the number of new jobs in the private sector fell to 358,000, and the total released Wednesday made for a third-quarter gain of 287,000...
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 Talk about a twist on fundraising.
The Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce has 16 local businesspeople and others lined up for its version of ABC’s popular “Dancing with the Stars” show. The cast includes Lee’s Summit Mayor Randy Rhoads, who will show off his moves alongside Diane Forte, an executive with Dean’s Trophies, Shirts & Awards.
The bash raises money by making the winners the pair that snags the most cash — either through monetary donation “votes” before or at the event or through pledges being gathered by each duo...
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 Parts of Interstate 29 stretching well into Iowa are about to reopen after flooding shut down the busy roadway for almost four months.
The roughly 45 miles of interstate from Rock Port, Mo., to U.S. Highway 34 near Pacific Junction, Iowa, (see the map below) will open later this week after having been closed since June 15, the Missouri Department of Transportation said Tuesday. It includes 15 miles of interstate in Missouri that mostly stayed dry and undamaged.
The Iowa Department of Transportation, which plans to make an announcement with the exact date and time of the opening, said parts of the interstate still will be under construction near Hamburg, Iowa, slowing travel...
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After Apple announced it will introduce an iPhone greeting card app for $2.99, tweeters and bloggers predicted gloom and doom for Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards Inc., the Kansas City Star and Associated Press report.
Hallmark put is own spin on the announcement, saying it merely affirms the work the company does every day.
Hallmark already offers Web-based card options and a spokeswoman said the company and consumers believe there still is value in printed greeting cards.
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Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway is looking to hire about 1,000 full-time employees for its gaming facility, which is slated to open in February 2012, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The casino will be hiring in the areas of gaming operations, food and beverage, accounting and finance, security, surveillance and facilities.
Hiring could begin as early as November. Hollywood Casino bills itself as the nation’s first trackside casino at a speedway. It’s also the first big casino to open in Kansas City in 16 years.
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Sprint Nextel Corp.’s iPhone launch isn’t the company’s first gamble, but it may be its most high-profile.
Some analysts predict that offering the iPhone will be the spark Sprint needs to add customers, while others said Sprint is paying too much for the iconic smartphone.
The Kansas City Business Journal takes a look back at some of the other phones Sprint has pushed since CEO Dan Hesse took the reins in 2007.
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Sprint Nextel Corp.’s clinching of the iPhone4S is essential to its future growth, former Sprint Corp. COO Ron LeMay said.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced Sprint (NYSE:S) as its newest iPhone partner at the end of a nearly two-hour news conference Tuesday for the unveiling of the device’s latest model, which will be available Oct. 14 in the United States.
Sprint released a short statement saying that it was pleased about the new partnership but wanted to keep the attention on Apple and its products for now...
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Less than a year after acquiring Gear For Sports, HanesBrands Inc. plans to close a plant in Chillicothe, Mo., eliminating 125 jobs and sending the work to Mexico.
Terry Rumery, who handles economic development services for Chillicothe, said the city was informed of the decision Monday. HanesBrands plans to close the plant in 60 days.
“That puts it right around Christmas time,” Rumery said. “There is no doubt that this is a huge blow to the community.”
The Chillicothe plant has been operating since 2001, making T-shirts and other logo apparel...
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 A bankruptcy judge in Kansas has approved an Oct. 24 auction for the Corbin Park retail development with an opening bid price of $5 million.
Bankruptcy Judge Robert Berger approved a second set of auction procedures that set Oct. 19 as the final deadline for interested parties to submit bids on the stalled 1 million-square-foot retail development at 135th Street and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park.
The initial set of procedures was approved for an Aug. 30 auction that never happened because no formal bids were received...
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The Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship program is extending its footprint, bringing Nebraska entrepreneurs into the fold.
The group, initially exclusive to Kansas, announced the development in an online video Tuesday. Nebraska entrepreneurs will be able to apply for the 2012 Pipeline class.
The announcement included Nebraska entrepreneurs, angel investors, technology leaders and the University of Nebraska. It comes with an undisclosed investment, which will be matched by part of an $800,000 grant from Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation...
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 Make some room, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is getting the iPhone, too, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced Tuesday, confirming longtime rumors that the Overland Park-based wireless carrier would offer the iconic device by the end of 2011.
Apple made the expected announcement during a news conference at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, where it also unveiled the iPhone 4S, a revamped phone loaded with a new chip-enabling graphics that are seven times faster than current iPhones, according to various live blogs of the invitation-only conference...
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Ford Motor Co.’s tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers includes a $1.1 billion investment in Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant and more than 1,600 new jobs there, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said.
The investment is nearly three times larger than the $400 million that Ford (NYSE: F) said in January it would spend at the Kansas City plant.
The labor agreement is subject to ratification by UAW members.
“Today’s announcement is the culmination of more than two years of negotiations between my administration and Ford, and is a strong sign that Missouri will be a manufacturing state for generations to come,” Nixon said in a written statement...
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 Opening up and saying, “aahhh,” from the comfort of home to a doctor on a computer screen could become a reality for more Kansas Citians with the installation of Google Inc.’s ultra-fast Internet network.
A doctor-next-door program aimed at the urban cores was just one of the ideas a group of more than 80 community leaders, advocates and business people came up with Monday in an attempt to determine what 1 gigabit of speed could mean for area residents.
The daylong brainstorming session at the downtown branch of the Kansas City Public Library, sponsored by the Social Media Club of Kansas City (#smckc), prompted hundreds of ideas...
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 Ford Motor Co. and General Motors saw sales of their Kansas City-made automobiles head in opposite directions last month, with Ford sales stepping on the gas while GM sales hit the brakes.
However, those results weren’t reflective of sales for the auto giants overall — sales for Ford (NYSE: F) rose 8.9 percent in September and 11.4 percent for the year to date, while GM sales jumped 19.6 percent in September and 16.1 percent for the year so far.
The Ford Escape was the big sales winner for Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo...
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 OsteoGeneX Inc. has spun off a new company called OssiFi to focus on technology that replaces standard bone-grafting techniques.
On Tuesday, the Kansas City, Kan., company announced the spinoff, which will license bone-repair devices and other technology developed by OsteoGeneX.
OssiFi, which also will be based in KCK, is being financed with $1.8 million in new investment, including $900,000 from the Israel-U.S.Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, $450,000 from the Kansas Bioscience Authority and $450,000 from local angel investors, the company said in a release...
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A former Lee’s Summit real estate agent was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison for her role in a $12.6 million mortgage fraud involving 25 upscale homes in Lee’s Summit and Raytown.
A federal court in Kansas City also ordered Angela Clark, 42, to pay $5.6 million in restitution. She pleaded guilty in May 2010.
As the co-owner of Constable Business Services, Clark sold new homes for builder Jerry R. Emerick, 41, of Raymore, in the Raintree and Belmont Farms subdivisions in Lee’s Summit and in the Eagle Glen subdivision in Raymore, prosecutors said...
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The small print on Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp.’s deal to buy at least 30.5 million iPhones reveals just how much power Apple Inc. has over telecom companies, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The multibillion-dollar deal spread through four years comes as Apple prepares to release its newest iPhone on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal says Sprint is obligated to buy the phones — valued at $20 billion — regardless of whether it can sell them.
Sprint is the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier and the second-largest employer in the Kansas City area, with a work force of 7,000 people, according to Kansas City Business Journal research...
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Three scientists born in the United States have won the Nobel Prize in physics for their research into the expansion of the universe, the New York Times reports.
American Saul Perlmutter will share the $1.5 million award with American-Australian Brian Schmidt and U.S. scientist Adam Riess.
Their research of exploding stars helped reveal that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
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 Three of the top executives at Clearwire Corp. have stepped down as the company continues seeking strategic partners to expand its wireless business.
In a release Thursday, the Kirkland, Wash., company (Nasdaq: CLWR) said CEO Bill Morrow had resigned, effective immediately, “citing personal reasons.”
Chairman John Stanton was named as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. Morrow will be an adviser for the next three months.
CIO Kevin Hart and Mike Sievert, Clearwire’s chief commercial officer, are leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities,” Clearwire’s release...
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Unemployment on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro area jumped to 8 percent in January, compared with 6.8 percent the month before, the Kansas Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Still, the rate was less than the 8.4 percent of a year before.
The department has a broad definition of the Kansas City area, including Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami and Wyandotte counties.
The statewide unemployment rate rose a point — from 6.4 percent in December to 7.4 percent in January. It had been...
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Missouri has provided a low-interest loan worth $37.85 million to help with wastewater collection and treatment in the Kansas City area.
Gov. Jay Nixon came to Lee’s Summit Thursday to announce the loan for the Little Blue Valley Sewer District, which covers parts of Jackson and Cass counties.
“The rapid growth of homes and businesses in eastern Jackson and Cass counties requires that sufficient infrastructure be in place to support it, and the treatment of wastewater is one of the basic elements of that infrastructure,” Nixon said in a...
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 A sea of fans, mostly wearing Kansas State University purple and University of Kansas crimson and blue, crowded into the Kansas City Power & Light District to soak up the sun and take in a big day of Big 12 Conference college basketball on the big screen Thursday afternoon.
Restaurants and bars inside KC Live in Downtown shook off the winter doldrums, set up tables in the open venue and prepared to breathe in the fresh air of March Madness.
“With 35,000 people a day for four consecutive days — and the atmosphere that comes with the synergy of our venues and a lot of excited and passionate fans — the Big 12 is a positive perfect storm,” said Nick Benjamin, executive director of the Power & Light...
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 FishNet Security revenue rose 30 percent last year, propelled by new products and the addition of more than 600 new customers.
The Kansas City-based information technology security firm reported Thursday that it had sales of more than $300 million for 2010. Employment also increased last year, up by 75 workers to 400, including 170 in Kansas City.
“2010 was a year of records for us at FishNet Security,” CEO Gary Fish said in a release. “The hard work we did in 2009 while the economy was sputtering really paid off in...
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 The chill in January lingered for Kansas City-area casinos in February, though Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City came out the market winner for the month.
Combined revenue for the four area riverboat casinos was $57.6 million for the month, 5 percent better than January but off 2.6 percent from a year earlier. The drop in the number of patrons was much steeper — a 10.9 percent decline to 774,300 compared with a year prior.
Statewide, casino revenue rose 3.3 percent to $148.9 million; the number of patrons declined...
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Garmin Ltd.’s Min Kao is the 736th-richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ latest ranking of the world’s billionaires.
Forbes pegs Kao’s net worth, calculated this month, as up to $1.7 billion. Kao, 62, lives in Mission Hills and ranks 264th of U.S. billionaires. He co-founded Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) in 1989 and is its chairman and CEO.
Two other locals — Donald Hall and Gary Burrell — tied for No. 1140 with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
Hall, 82, is chairman of Hallmark Cards...
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The CEO of SAIC Inc. — which has about 115 employees in the Kansas City area — will retire in June, the company announced Monday.
SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.) said Monday that Walt Havenstein will retire effective June 15 for personal reasons. The company, based in McLean, Va., warned of slower revenue in August.
Its operations in the Kansas City area, however, have scored two big IT contracts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the past 18 months. A contract announced in March could be worth $208 million, and one awarded in August 2010 could reach $52 million...
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 Hallmark Cards Inc. saw its first gain in annual revenue in three years as recordable cards and books in North America, as well as its Crayola subsidiary, generated strong sales.
The Kansas City-based company reported $4.1 billion in worldwide consolidated sales for 2010, a 3 percent increase from 2009. The last time the world’s largest maker of greeting cards showed an annual uptick in revenue was in 2007, before the recession sapped consumer spending.
Hallmark said Thursday that its four operating divisions experienced high profits during the year, which the privately held company credited to the revenue gain and cost-cutting measures taken in 2009, such as job cuts that included 300 positions in Kansas...
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 Kansas City brewers took home five medals at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival.
Boulevard Brewing Co. won four of the five local medals, including two golds. Boulevard won golds for Boulevard Pale Ale in the International-Style Pale Ale category, and for its Saison-Brett in the French- and Belgian-style Saison category.
Bob Sullivan, Boulevard’s chief marketing officer, said the gold medal for Pale Ale was especially gratifying. It is the first beer the brewery ever made, and this was its first award...
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A local jewelry designer is making it work for designer Laura Kathleen Planck, who’s in the running to win “Project Runway” season 9.
Kansas City-based designer Garnet Griebel and St. Louis-based designer Katie Miller joined forces in 2006 to start Scarlett Garnet Jewelry. In 2010, Planck approached the duo to accessorize her clothes in a fashion event in St. Louis. When Planck made “Project Runway,” she asked them to work with her for her show in New York Fashion Week as well as for sourcing metal...
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A local jewelry designer is making it work for designer Laura Kathleen Planck, who’s in the running to win “Project Runway” season 9.
Kansas City-based designer Garnet Griebel and St. Louis-based designer Katie Miller joined forces in 2006 to start Scarlett Garnet Jewelry. In 2010, Planck approached the duo to accessorize her clothes in a fashion event in St. Louis. When Planck made “Project Runway,” she asked them to work with her for her show in New York Fashion Week as well as for sourcing metal...
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A Lee’s Summit-based health insurance underwriter has lost its bid to have its insurer cover losses stemming from an executive’s embezzlement of $1 million.
Tactical Stop-Loss LLC is not entitled to coverage through a crime policy it bought from Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. of America, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
In 2007, Tactical discovered that CEO James Fox had moved nearly $1 million of client money to his personal bank account. He later committed suicide.
The company administers trust accounts for insurance companies that provide stop-loss coverage to sponsors of employee benefit plans...
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 Missouri health care providers led the nation last year in getting shortchanged by the Medicare program, according to a new federal audit.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week issued the first annual report to Congress of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, which identifies errors in Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, physician offices, medical suppliers, ambulance services, nursing homes and other providers.
It found that Missouri providers were owed a little more than $3 million in underpayments during the fiscal year that ended Sept...
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![]() Former U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton will become the newest partner to join Husch Blackwell LLP.
Skelton, a 17-term Democratic representative of Missouri’s 4th District, joins the firm March 15. He lost his November re-election bid to Republican Vicky Hartzler.
“For me, I am returning to my first love — my love of being a country lawyer,” Skelton said at a Thursday press conference at Husch Blackwell’s Country Club Plaza office.
Skelton will practice primarily out of the firm’s Washington office where, about 18 months ago, Husch Blackwell propelled its government contract practice by recruiting a stable of partners from a competing...
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Lathrop & Gage LLP has merged its downtown St. Louis office with its suburban Clayton location.
The law firm said its Clayton office now houses 46 employees, including 23 lawyers.
Kansas City-based Lathrop & Gage is the fourth-largest law firm in the Kansas City metro area, with more than 180 local lawyers and more than 320 firmwide in 12 offices. The firm also is one of the largest in St. Louis.
The move “allows us to have frequent face-to-face interactions with colleagues,” said Scott Malin, the office’s partner in charge...
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 Sprint Nextel Corp. probably will lift its unofficial gag order on the iPhone after this week.
Sprint (NYSE: S) is expected to have a big week, with Apple Inc.’s iPhone announcement slated for Tuesday and Sprint’s meeting with investors set for Friday.
It is widely expected among analysts and bloggers that Apple will use its Tuesday news conference to not only unveil highly anticipated iPhone 4 or iPhone 5 devices — or both — but that Apple also will divulge Sprint as the third wireless carrier to get the iconic smartphone...
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 AMC Entertainment Inc. is partnering with entertainment management company The Collective and horror website BloodyDisgusting.com to bring a series of independent horror films to some of its U.S. theaters.
The distribution agreement announced Thursday calls for The Collective, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., to acquire the rights of films on the festival circuit or in overseas markets. BloodyDisgusting.com, which claims to be the “most trafficked horror website in the world” with 2 million unique visitors and 25 million page views a month, will help select titles that will resonate with...
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Great Plains Energy Inc. and subsidiary Kansas City Power & Light Co. are eliminating 150 non-union positions as part of what the companies describe as an organizational realignment.
Employees will be offered a voluntary separation program. Those whose positions are eliminated but who do not take the voluntary separations will be placed elsewhere in the organization.
“In the past, demand growth has helped offset cost increases,” Great Plains (NYSE: GXP) CFO Jim Shay said in a statement. “However, recent and projected growth in customer energy consumption is much lower than historical...
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is giving Kansas $5 million in grants to improve truck and bus safety.
The award, which the agency announced Friday, comes in two parts.
The Kansas Highway Patrol is receiving $3.95 million to conduct safety audits of new truck and bus companies, increase inspections of commercial vehicles transporting hazardous materials and expand safe driving programs in Kansas high schools.
The Kansas Department of Revenue also will receive $1.1 million to create an electronic testing system for commercial driver’s licenses...
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 The Big 12 Conference board of directors announced Monday that it has adopted equitable conference-related revenue sharing rules, which should eliminate a big point of dispute within the conference.
The new rules include revenue related to football and basketball television rights and NCAA basketball tournaments. The action isn’t effective until each member institution grants its television rights to the Big 12 Conference for at least six years.
“The board is encouraged by the number of institutions indicating interest in the Big 12, which reflects positively on the standing of the conference within intercollegiate athletics,” the Big 12 Conference board said in a release...
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The euro-zone debt crisis deepened Monday as European stocks dropped sharply over concerns that Greece will default on its debt, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The nation’s government said Sunday that it won’t meet its deficit reduction targets this year. During the weekend, the Greek cabinet approved a draft 2012 budget that trims $8.84 billion through job cuts.
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A U.S. District judge has ordered former Lee’s Summit financial adviser Mark Greenway to four years in federal prison without parole for his role in a $1.2 million wire fraud scheme, the Lee’s Summit Journal reports.
Federal prosecutors said Greenway stole two sisters’ settlements from their father’s death.
The court also ordered Greenway to pay $1.2 million in restitution.
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