|
|
January 2012 - Posts
-
 It’s that time of year when chocolate and beer unite in a Kansas City-based frenzy.
Boulevard Brewing Co.’s Chocolate Ale, a collaboration with Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, has hit liquor store shelves and been tapped at area bars. But despite brewing more beer than last year’s limited run because of the high demand, the specialty brew still is flying off the shelves.
Bob Sullivan, Boulevard's chief marketing officer, said that construction at the Kansas City brewery limited production this year but that the company still made three to four times more than last year...
|
-
 Kansas City officials’ already ambitious goal to apply this year for federal grants to help build a downtown streetcar system just ratcheted up a few notches.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Tuesday announced a March 19 deadline for cities and states wanting to take advantage of $500 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants.
The City Council is hinging its plans for a 2.2-mile streetcar system on receiving $25 million of that money this year...
|
-
 Sunny summer baseball games at Kauffman Stadium won’t just mean sunburns for fans this year. New solar panels promise to turn those rays into energy savings.
Kansas City Power & Light Co. has installed a 28.8-kilowatt solar array that will generate about 36,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy a year. That’s enough electricity to power four average homes annually, a KCP&L spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, the utility and the Kansas City Royals announced the solar energy partnership, which plays into Major League Baseball’s renewable energy initiatives that the entities will plug during the 2012 MLB All-Star Game and other summer events in Kansas City...
|
-
 Shawnee-based Perceptive Software booted up revenue by 41 percent in the fourth quarter, new parent Lexmark International Inc. announced Tuesday.
Lexmark also announced “restructuring initiatives” that will “impact” 625 mostly manufacturing employees, a combination of layoffs and transfers, Lexmark CFO John Gamble said in an interview. But that won’t touch Perceptive, which is in hiring mode. The initiatives, expected to save Lexmark $35 million, are part of the company’s strategy to direct talent and resources to higher-use platforms...
|
-
An appeals court on Tuesday knocked down all but $500,000 of a $6.5 million verdict awarded to a Kansas City police officer who was fired after a botched murder investigation.
After a 2010 trial, a Jackson County jury awarded the officer, Danny Holmes, $250,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages under the Missouri Human Rights Act, plus $3.5 million on a whistleblowing claim and $2.5 million for breach of contract.
Holmes argued that he was wrongfully fired because he was black but that white officers involved in the 2003 case received only light suspensions...
|
-
 Inergy LP reported a first-quarter loss of $3.6 million Tuesday as it focuses on expanding its midstream business.
In keeping with that shift, Kansas City-based Inergy (NYSE: NRGY) saw gross profit from midstream operations — the storage and transportation of natural gas — rise to $53.5 million, compared with $42.5 million a year prior.
Meanwhile, retail propane gross profit fell to $97 million, compared with $132.3 million a year earlier.
Inergy has been working on a “major cost-reduction initiative” in its propane operations, according to a release...
|
-
 Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. saw a 13.7 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings compared with last year, mostly because of an uptick in expenses.
The Overland Park-based mutual fund provider (NYSE: WDR) reported earnings of $40.02 million, or 47 cents a share, down from $46.37 million, or 54 cents a share, during the same period a year earlier.
Quarterly revenue came in at $290.9 million, up 3.4 percent from $281.3 million last year. However, expenses rose 7.6 percent to $227.6 million, with the biggest jump in underwriting and distribution, where expenses increased 8 percent to $154...
|
-
 YRC Inc. is getting out of the next-day delivery business as it continues to shift its focus to being a pure-play long-haul carrier.
The company, the national less-than-truckload division of Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW), mailed a series of proposed work changes to dozens of International Brotherhood of Teamsters union locals last week. They have to approve the changes, which are likely to mean job cuts.
The changes show YRC plans to take a number of distribution centers and terminals that have been part of the company’s so-called “Velocity” next-day network and make them part of the long-haul network...
|
-
 Kansas taxpayers have footed the bill for more than $122,000 in legal fees for the former top two executives at Kansas Bioscience Authority in connection with a criminal investigation by the Johnson County District Attorney’s office.
Documents provided by the Olathe-based KBA show it has reimbursed former CEO Tom Thornton for $53,672 in attorney’s fees and expenses from April through December. Former CFO Janice Katterhenry was reimbursed $68,588 in fees through the middle of December.
Both executives sent separate letters to the KBA in April saying they were targets of a criminal investigation by the DA’s office and asking that they be indemnified against wrongdoing under KBA bylaws...
|
-
 Mariner Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired a majority interest in Oklahoma-based Adams Hall Asset Management LLC for an undisclosed amount, according to a Tuesday announcement.
The Tulsa independent wealth management firm has about $1.3 billion in assets under management. Its staff of 14 professionals has experience creating custom wealth plans for a wide range of clients.
The acquisition boosts Leawood-based Mariner’s assets under management by 65 percent to about $3.3 billion and establishes its first physical presence in Oklahoma...
|
-
A subsidiary of Kansas City-based Inergy LP (Nasdaq: NRGY) is embroiled in an eminent domain lawsuit regarding a 39-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Pennsylvania, the Watertown Daily Times reports.
Federal regulators approved the pipeline through the Endless Mountains, citing the operator’s promises that it would use eminent domain sparingly when negotiating with about 150 property owners along the route.
But nearly half those homeowners received condemnation notices just a few days after approval of the $250 million MARC 1 pipeline in the heart of the giant Marcellus Shale gas field...
|
-
Documents show that the Kansas Bioscience Authority spent twice as much on legal fees to defend two former executives — about $122,000 — as previously reported, The Wichita Eagle reports.
The Eagle reported on Saturday that the KBA paid $53,671 on former CEO Tom Thornton’s attorneys and legal expenses, and $10,197 for former CFO and COO Janice Katterhenry.
But documents provided by the KBA on Monday showed that the agency actually paid Kansas City firm Husch Blackwell LLP nearly $69,000 for Katterhenry’s defense...
|
-
The return of Ferris Bueller in a Honda commercial is attracting most of the day’s pre-Super Bowl ad hype, but keep in mind Sunday that a pro-business public service announcement marching across your TV screen three times around the big game hails from an entrepreneurship foundation near you.
Big local companies such as Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and Olathe-based Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), are skipping out on Super Bowl ads this year, but the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has prepared a 30-second TV spot...
|
-
 Unseasonably balmy weather is allowing Kansas City-area builders and road crews to finish work that normally is relegated to warmer spring months.
The National Weather Service predicted a Monday high of 69 degrees. Last year, winter brought crippling snow around this time. The normal high for Jan. 30 in Downtown is 41 degrees; the highest temperature recorded on this date is 64 degrees.
Nathaniel Hagedorn, a Northland developer, said the warm weather has saved his company money it usually has to spend on clearing snow from parking lots...
|
-
 The University of Missouri-Kansas City has a seemingly paradoxical plan to handle proposed budget cuts: grow out of them.
In an interview, UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton said that because the school serves an urban population that is sensitive to price, it can raise tuition and fees only so far.
But those are UMKC’s biggest sources of revenue, so increasing enrollment could help the university dig out from a threatened 12.5 percent cut to state financing.
UMKC’s professional schools mostly are at capacity, Morton said, but several undergraduate colleges could double their student numbers...
|
-
 U.S. railroads plan to spend a record $13 billion on new infrastructure, tracks, locomotives and other investments in 2012, the Association of American Railroads says.
That’s up from the $12 billion in capital expenditures projected for 2011, the group said in a Monday release. The association added that it expected railroads to hire more than 15,000 people this year — a mix of new positions and replacements for retirees.
“Unlike trucks, barges or airlines, America’s freight railroads operate on infrastructure they own, build and maintain themselves so taxpayers don’t have to,” CEO Edward Hamberger said in the release...
|
-
 UMB Bank is selling its Indianapolis-based corporate trust operations to U.S. Bank for an undisclosed amount, according to a Monday announcement.
Customers are being notified of the transaction, which is expected to close March 2.
UMB started corporate trust operations in Indianapolis in 2008. The following year, it expanded the operations by acquiring Harris Bank’s corporate trust business in Indiana. But changes in UMB’s industry approach during the past few years led the bank to sell that business...
|
-
 Arvest Bank announced Monday that it signed an agreement to acquire nearly all the assets and liabilities of Union Bank.
The acquisition will double Arvest’s assets and branches in the Kansas City area.
The deal, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to close in 90 to 120 days. Terms were not disclosed.
“This was a way for us to expand our footprint,” said Mark Larrabee, Arvest president and CEO in Kansas City. “We have a couple branches in Missouri, in Downtown and in Lee’s Summit, and this was a great way to expand our presence on the Missouri side...
|
-
 Centerpoint Medical Center has opened an urgent care clinic in Blue Springs to provide non-emergency health care.
In a release Friday, the Independence hospital said the new clinic at 725 N.W. State Road 7 will be staffed seven days a week with no appointments necessary. It will be equipped to deal with most minor injuries and general illness, including flu shots, cuts and fractures, colds, sprains and strains, school and sports physicals, employment exams and treatment of work injuries.
“We believe this urgent care clinic will allow residents to receive the care they need for non-life threatening conditions without having to go to a hospital emergency room,” Centerpoint CEO Carolyn Caldwell said in the release, adding that the clinic will expand health care options in eastern Jackson County...
|
-
 Lockton Cos. Inc. has renewed its lease for the Country Club Plaza’s Valencia Place, keeping the insurance broker in the Kansas City office tower until at least 2030.
Lockton announced its lease renewal Monday. It includes a modest expansion of 10,000 square feet, adding to Lockton’s existing 171,000-square-foot presence at Valencia Place, 444 W. 47th St.
Lockton and Country Club Plaza owner Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) have scheduled a 10 a.m. press conference about the announcement...
|
-
Missouri economic development officials last year approved a record amount of tax perks tied to business job creation, even as new data show that past incentives aren’t hitting jobs goals, The Columbia Daily Tribune reports.
According to information obtained by The Associated Press, 57 projects received almost $80 million in tax breaks through the Missouri Quality Jobs program last year, the report says. Businesses that received incentives in 2011 through the program, which started in 2005, project 6,451 new jobs...
|
-
 The Kansas Department of Transportation is hitting the gas on $50 million worth of preservation projects to generate jobs and capitalize on the current low construction costs.
The 32 projects — which were in the 10-year, $8 billion T-WORKS transportation program passed in 2010 — are for work such as the repair and reconstruction of roads and bridges. The section near the Kansas City metro area is getting the most projects — seven highway projects and four bridge projects worth a collective $15...
|
-
 With an established business matching lawyers with clients facing legal projects, Diana Kander is ready to put another notch on her belt.
Kander, CEO of Kansas City-based KR Legal Management LLC, is launching a new company to help Kansas City-area lawyers find one another.
Legal Sonar Inc. will offer a search engine that uses social networks to make connections between attorneys and anyone looking for them. The service will be free and available to anyone, but it’s mostly designed to help lawyers in the crucial process of referring work to and from their practices...
|
-
The Kansas City Council on Thursday took another step forward in its development of a Downtown streetcar line by authorizing a design contract with HDR Engineering Inc.
An ordinance approved by the council Thursday authorizes a contract worth as much as $697,559 for additional design and conceptual engineering work on a preferred 2-mile streetcar line.
This comes a week after the Kansas City Council signaled its support for a special election in which about 10,000 voters, largely in the downtown core, would vote on creating a transportation development district that would include a 1 percent sales tax increase and property tax assessments to help pay for the $100 million proposal...
|
-
 Missouri could use its manufacturing and agricultural prowess to boost national energy production, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a presentation Friday at the Mid-America Regional Council offices.
Vilsack held a round-table meeting in Kansas City with business owners and agricultural leaders to discuss President Obama’s recent State of the Union address.
Vilsack affirmed the role of manufacturing in Obama’s plan to create U.S. jobs, saying continued tax incentives, stronger trade enforcement and other measures would need to continue...
|
-
 Kansas City scored a commitment from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association to keep its basketball championship tournament through 2014.
MIAA Commissioner Bob Boerigter said the league agreed to keep its basketball tournament in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium in 2013 and 2014.
While MIAA basketball has history with Kansas City — this year’s tournament will mark the 10th in the city — Boerigter said the decision wasn’t a slam dunk.
The league now has 11 member schools, including the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri Western State University in St...
|
-
 A progress report released Friday by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce shows early headway in each of the organization’s Big 5 ideas for the region.
The report is the first of what chamber officials say will be quarterly updates on the Big 5 ideas. The chamber announced the Big 5 in September after months of meetings with business and civic leaders in the Kansas City area to identify projects that would improve the region and that could be accomplished in a short time frame.
Highlights of the progress report include:
• The Urban Neighborhood Initiative hired a project manager in mid-October and has conducted a pair of community meetings that attracted more than 200 people, the report said...
|
-
 Members of United Auto Workers Local 31 in Kansas City, Kan., have voted to authorize a strike if talks break down with General Motors Co.
Local 31 represents more than 3,400 workers at GM’s (NYSE: GM) Fairfax Assembly Plant; workers there rejected a contract last week.
The latest vote closed at midnight Thursday with 90 percent voting to authorize a strike, local President George Ruiz said Friday. But he emphasized that the vote is routine with contract talks and that it simply allows the union to strike if talks break down...
|
-
Kyle Johnson, CEO of Lawrence-based mobile music applications company AudioAnywhere, has been named as the 2011 Pipeline Innovator of the Year.
A panel of national judges announced the award, honoring the most outstanding participant in the yearlong Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program on Thursday night at Pipeline’s annual ceremony in Overland Park.
The program selects high-potential, high-growth entrepreneurs and puts them through a series of training modules to help them hone their business plans and operations, improve their networking abilities and put them in contact with venture capitalists and private investors nationwide...
|
-
A federal judge sentenced a Taiwanese official Friday to time served for illegally employing two Filipino housemaids.
Hsien-Hsien “Jacqueline” Liu, 64, pleaded guilty in November in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to fraud in foreign labor contracting.
Liu waived her right to an immigration hearing and will be deported.
She was the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, which maintains unofficial relations between the United States and Taiwan.
According to prosecutors, Liu brought the housekeepers into the country illegally, underpaid and abused them, and confined them in her Overland Park home...
|
-
Taken from the old movie “Overboard,” this statement came to mind recently while I pondered the year ahead.
Will the economy continue to improve? Will anyone get excited about a new casino, or the new Cancer Clinical Trials building? Will the Big 5 Ideas move forward? Will something happen in Topeka and Jefferson City that is positive for the KC metro area?
Will KC schools find solutions and Kansas schools find formula fairness? What about the 1000-room hotel in Downtown or the trolley project? How about the life sciences park in Blue Springs, or BNSF in Edgerton or NNSA in south KC? Will Google make it all happen?
And then how about those 2012 elections? Here we go again...
|
-
 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the most-active commercial real estate firms in the Kansas City area by local transactions last year.
The top five companies on the list all saw increases in transactions closed in 2011 compared with a year earlier.
Here’s No. 5:
Kessinger/Hunter & Co. LC
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 4
Kansas City-based Kessinger/Hunter & Co. LC reported 426 transactions closed in the Kansas City area in 2011, compared with 339 the year before...
|
-
Workers at the General Motors Co. assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., have voted to authorize a strike, NBCActionNews reports, citing a plant worker who answered the phone early Friday.
That means the bargaining committee and United Auto Workers union can call for a strike if necessary. The vote, called after workers rejected a new local contract, was 90 percent in favor.
|
-
Kansas City’s third Restaurant Week still has a few days left in its run, and it’s already seeing far more activity than last year’s event.
For example, the event’s smartphone app, available for Android phones for the first time this year, has seen 3,454 downloads, according to numbers from the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. It’s logged 23,590 separate uses, or “sessions,” compared with 5,814 last year. The app was downloaded 795 times last year.
“It’s just amazing this year,” said Doug McClain, director of marketing for the KCCVA...
|
-
U.S. hospitals are making inroads on limiting the number of mothers having early deliveries without a medical reason, which researchers say can lead to complications and higher health costs, a new survey claims.
The Leapfrog Group, which represents employer-based insurance plans, said Wednesday that 39 percent of U.S. hospitals participating in the survey reported that elective deliveries before 39 weeks gestation made up 5 percent or fewer of their total births in 2011. That compared with 30 percent of hospitals the year before...
|
-
The heat may be gone from controversy surrounding the fizzled AT&T Inc.-T-Mobile USA merger, but that isn’t keeping Sprint Nextel Corp. and its larger competitor from butting heads on other issues.
AT&T’s (NYSE: T) chief privacy officer took both Sprint (NYSE: S) and the Federal Communications Commission to task in a scathing blog published on the company’s website.
The flavor of this week’s cat fight? Roaming.
Sprint recently made network roaming changes, effective March 1, for customers traveling outside of metropolitan areas in Oklahoma and Kansas...
|
-
TMNG Global has appointed a new independent member to its board of directors on the heels of a settlement agreement with stockholders and the ousting of its CEO and founder, Richard Nespola.
TMNG named Peter Woodward to fill a newly created board position as part of the settlement agreement reached Wednesday, the Overland Park-based technology consulting company announced Thursday.
The appointment further solidifies the independent-member majority on the board, bringing the number of directors from outside the company to five on the seven-member body...
|
-
 Manufacturing activity jumped significantly in January, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
The survey’s production index was at 13, its highest total since hitting 23 in June, up from minus-6 in December and 9 a year ago.
The index can range from 100 to minus-100; a positive number indicates growth.
Manufacturing activity increased at plants producing both durable and non-durable goods, with particular strength in the chemical, fabricated metal and aircraft production industries...
|
-
 Here’s one thing Kansas City can hold over St. Louis: how much its lawyers get paid.
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by On Numbers, a blog affiliated with the Kansas City Business Journal, lawyers in the greater Kansas City area received an average annual salary of $117,310, compared with $114,060 in the St. Louis area.
The figures are from May 2010, the latest data available.
Surprisingly, lawyers in the St. Joseph, Mo., area also make more than those in St. Louis at $115,130...
|
-
 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon visited Vari-Form Inc. in Liberty on Wednesday to stump for legislation aimed at boosting the number of auto supplier jobs across the state.
Vari-Form supplies steel frame components for the roof of the Ford F-150 pickup, which is produced at Ford Motor Co.’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo. It opened a plant in Liberty in 2007, creating more than 40 jobs.
Missouri officials want to attract more businesses like Vari-Form on the heels of Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co...
|
-
 A bicycle-sharing program seeks to roll into downtown Kansas City, offering a pool of bikes for short trips throughout the area.
BikeWalkKC, a local active living advocacy group, on Thursday announced the formation of BikeShareKC, in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
City Council members were scheduled to approve a resolution Thursday allowing the service and promising to increase the number of dedicated bike lanes in Downtown between Crown Center and River Market.
In a release, Eric Rogers, executive director of BikeWalkKC, said the service would be aimed primarily at users of public transportation who may get off a bus several blocks from their final destinations...
|
-
The Kansas City, Mo., School District signed a deal Wednesday for Polsinelli Shughart PC to provide legal services to the district.
That adds Kansas City-based Polsinelli to the stable of law firms the district uses, but it doesn’t replace any particular firm, said MacKenzie Harvison, the district’s chief legal counsel.
“There’s no firm plan to use them on any specific projects,” she said, though Polsinelli eventually may handle work related to the district’s efforts to repurpose shuttered school buildings...
|
-
 Olathe-based Terracon Consultants Inc. has named M. Gayle Packer as its new chief administrative officer.
Packer, who joined the engineering consulting firm in 2004 as an attorney, also will hold the title of executive vice president.
Packer runs the firm’s acquisitions program and has handled the integration of 17 acquired companies since 2005. She also manages corporate services for Terracon, which has 130 U.S. offices and 2,647 employees, including 186 in the Kansas City area.
The Kansas City Business Journal named Packer as one of its “Women Who Mean Business” in 2010...
|
-
Legislators in a joint committee hearing questioned whether a forensic audit of the Kansas Bioscience Authority was thorough enough and whether former KBA chief Tom Thornton should be prosecuted, the Wichita Eagle reports.
In the hearing of the House and Senate commerce committees, lawmakers questioned representatives of auditor BKD LLP about whether the investigation went far enough and whether a final report downplayed certain of Thornton’s deeds, the report says. Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, claimed auditors paid little attention to her concerns...
|
-
In yet another sign of the slow economic recovery, the Federal Reserve plans to keep its short-term interest rates at near zero until late 2014, The New York Times reports.
The Fed said it would maintain low interest rates to spur growth, though Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned people not to overestimate the central bank’s pull, according to the Times.
Although the policy does reduce the cost of capital for business, continued low interest rates take a toll on savers with ordinary bank accounts.
|
-
Saint Luke’s Hospice has raised $1.5 million, a goal that comes with the promise of an extra $500,000 grant and clears the way for construction of a new facility.
The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation Inc. issued a challenge grant in January 2011 that gave the hospice a year to meet the fundraising goal. The hospice expects to get the $500,000 in the spring.
The money is for a $7 million free-standing hospice facility. Half of that money has come from philanthropic donors.
The completion of the campaign means construction can start, campaign co-chair Larry McMullen said in a release...
|
-
 Black & Veatch has recruited outside the company for the new president of its management consulting division, a 400-employee team of water, electric and natural gas experts.
The Overland Park-based engineering firm announced Wednesday that it had selected John Chevrette, a senior partner at Ernst & Young, for the post. The global professional services firm has a U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.
Black & Veatch’s management consulting division advises clients about regulatory matters, compliance, strategy and finance, infrastructure planning and other issues...
|
-
Blount International Inc. has issued a voluntary recall on about 950 Oregon Replacement Lawnmower Blades made in Kansas City and sold between January 2010 and September 2011.
The blades can break during normal use, posing a laceration hazard to the user and bystanders. Portland-based Blount received seven reports of the blades breaking during use, but no injuries were reported.
The outdoor equipment manufacturer has a manufacturing, sales and distribution center in Kansas City. Last year, Blount announced plans for a 350,000-square-foot distribution center at KCI Intermodal BusinessCentre that would create 89 local jobs...
|
-
 The Kansas Bioscience Authority doesn’t plan to stop making investments, despite a call to do so by Gov. Sam Brownback following the release of a forensic audit.
Brownback on Monday issued a statement urging the KBA’s board of directors “to issue a moratorium on new spending and new commitments until the Kansas Legislature decides what kind of future the state wants for the KBA.” The administration is holding back $22 million meant to go to the KBA this fiscal year.
On Wednesday, KBA Chairman Dan Watkins sent a letter to stakeholders saying the Olathe-based agency “can and will make payments on committed funds based on the terms of our agreement with you...
|
-
 As Zaarly Inc., the closely watched brainchild of a Kansas City entrepreneur, works to capture online audiences with its social marketplace for goods and services, it’s also catching the attention of tech writers throughout the nation’s blogosphere.
Zaarly, which is just months old, made the rounds this holiday season, landing on a smattering of to-watch or best-of lists in notable tech blogs and other publications.
Forbes contributor Deborah Sweeney included Zaarly in her “Best of 2011: My 5 Favorite Startups” roundup, saying the company raised the bar on startups that can launch quickly and attract both star power — Ashton Kutcher and eBay CEO Meg Whitman — and financial backing ($14...
|
-
Jeffrey Adams, the mayor pro tem of Raymore, wants to eliminate the city’s business excise tax.
The tax is charged to new or relocating businesses based on the number of vehicle trips generated by the business. It’s used to offset the effect on city streets.
Adams said that attracting new businesses would make up for any lost revenue.
“It is my opinion that the tax is counterproductive to bringing new business to the city, and by eliminating the commercial excise tax, Raymore will be more competitive and business-friendly in our economic development efforts,” he said in a statement...
|
-
 Tourists to the Kansas City area set records in 2011, booking more hotel rooms than in any past year — 6.6 million. Also, through December, the local hotel industry had experienced 22 straight months of year-to-year hotel demand and revenue growth.
According to Smith Travel Research Data, hotel demand increased 3.4 percent from 2010. The previous record for hotel rooms sold was 6.4 million in 2008.
Hotel revenue topped $540 million last year, a 5.2 percent boost that made 2011 the region’s third-best revenue year after 2007 and 2008...
|
-
 The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has named a former Sprint Nextel Corp. executive to its board of trustees, which is tasked with a search for a new CEO.
On Wednesday, the Kansas City-based foundation announced the addition of Jeannine Strandjord, who retired as chief integration officer of then-Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) in 2005.
The board will lead a selection process for a permanent leader after former CEO Carl Schramm’s Jan. 3 resignation. Meanwhile, board trustee Benno Schmidt Jr. is acting as interim president and CEO...
|
-
UMB Financial Corp., the parent of UMB Bank, reported record earnings for 2011, with gains in interest and non-interest income.
UMB (Nasdaq: UMBF) surpassed $100 million in net income for the first time in its history — $106.5 million, or $2.64 a share. That’s up 17 percent from $91 million, or $2.27 a share, in 2010.
“During the past three years, we have consistently grown UMB without sacrificing credit quality or capital and made acquisitions in what has arguably been one of the worst financial crises this country has seen in generations,” UMB Chairman and CEO Mariner Kemper said in a release...
|
-
 Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has a hold on $22 million intended for the Kansas Bioscience Authority as state officials wade through the results of a lengthy audit.
The money had been slated to go to the KBA in November but was held because of the audit process; state law requires that it be transferred by the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag said Wednesday.
Facing criticism from Brownback and state legislators, the KBA agreed to an independent forensic audit in April and selected BKD LLP for the job...
|
-
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration is blocking $22 million earmarked for the Kansas Bioscience Authority, pending further investigation, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
The move comes after an audit found that agency investment decisions have been sound, in spite of problems surrounding former KBA leader Tom Thornton.
State lawmakers created the Olathe-based KBA in 2004 to help encourage tech startups by investing up to $580 million in developing a bioscience industry.
In response to the audit, Brownback proposed a moratorium on new KBA spending and establishment of new commitments to bioscience companies...
|
-
 U.S. trucking business jumped in December — not unusual in itself, except that the jump was a big one.
“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, said in a written statement.
The month-to-month increase was the largest since January 2005.
The trade association has an index to monitor for-hire truck tonnage. The advanced, seasonally adjusted index rose 6...
|
-
 Missouri got a special mention in the latest unemployment report for states — but it wasn’t a good one.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pointed out that Missouri had the second-largest drop in employees on nonfarm payrolls from November to December — 11,800. New York had the largest at 14,000.
Overall, nonfarm payroll employment rose in 25 states, fell in 24 and was flat in one. Texas, Indiana and California led the gains.
In terms of unemployment rates, Missouri improved to 8 percent, down from 8...
|
-
Henry Wurst Inc., a North Kansas City-based marketing firm, is acquiring local direct-marketing firm Intelligent Marketing Solutions Inc.
The deal, for an undisclosed price, closed Monday. Henry Wurst said it will take on a number of the company’s key personnel but did not immediately provide specifics.
“In addition to adding additional capabilities in data-related services to our company, I am thrilled at the prospect of such a talented group of people joining the Henry Wurst Inc. team,” President Mark Hanf said in a release...
|
-
 The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is soliciting aesthetics of a different kind, with five design teams competing to build a pavilion that coincides with the Kansas City museum’s exhibition about arts at the world’s fairs.
The teams will present their designs to Nelson-Atkins staff; a panel of judges, including Bloch Building architect Steven Holl, will pick the winner. The exhibit the pavilion would honor, “Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs 1851-1939,” opens April 14, and the pavilion will remain open until the exhibit closes Aug...
|
-
Vincent Beckett has been named CFO of Cohen Financial, but he’ll keep working out of the Chicago-based company’s Leawood office.
Beckett, previously a vice president, takes over CFO duties from Manny Brown, who has held both the CFO and the chief operating officer positions. Brown remains COO of the company.
Cohen Financial, a commercial real estate capital services firm, offers debt placement, investment brokerage, loan administration and advisory services.
“Vince is a seasoned finance executive with a solid background in the commercial real estate industry,” Cohen Financial CEO Jack Cohen said in a release...
|
-
Mediware Information Systems Inc. said Tuesday that it is promoting Robert Watkins to the job of chief financial officer.
The Lenexa-based health care technology company (Nasdaq: MEDW) said Watkins has been an employee for more than three years, most recently as vice president and corporate controller. Mediware said Watkins will assume the new title on Feb. 15.
Watkins succeeds Michael Martens, who said in November that he would resign to rejoin an unspecified previous employer.
Mediware develops a range of software products for the health care industry, including products for managing blood supplies, medications and specialty pharmaceuticals.
|
-
A forensic audit of the Kansas Bioscience Authority nailed former CEO Tom Thornton for some fast-and-loose spending and, worse, for scrubbing the hard drive of his KBA-issued computer to hide any embarrassing information from auditors. These reputation-eroding findings made the lead of every news story and will be the subject of much water-cooler talk among bioscience folks and political junkies for the near future.
But Thornton wasn’t alone in taking hits in the audit report released Monday. In fact, the bulk of the report — by accounting firm BKD LLP — consists of investigators knocking down allegation after allegation from KBA critics...
|
-
Kansas City lawyer Patrick Reaves wants to rehabilitate an old Columbus Park building badly damaged by fire and move his law office and wife’s art studio there.
NAVAC LLC, an entity jointly owned by Reaves and his wife, Denise, has applied for property tax abatement from the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority. The agency is set to discuss the application at its Wednesday meeting.
Patrick Reaves’ law practice is based in the Livestock Exchange Building in Kansas City’s West Bottoms...
|
-
 Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel filed a lawsuit Monday against a Missouri man whose companies control Internet payday loan websites.
The suit claims that defendant Josh Mitchem and his companies, PDL Support LLC and Platinum B Services LLC, control six websites that made payday loans in Arkansas at interest rates that violate its laws. The companies are “purported to be based in the Caribbean island of Nevis,” but lending operations are based in Kansas City, according to a release from McDaniel’s office...
|
-
 Clearwire Corp.’s cash situation has significantly improved after public stock offerings and a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp.
In a preliminary quarterly financial report Tuesday, Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) said it had $1.11 billion in cash and equivalents on Dec. 31. Just three months earlier, the company had $711 million on hand.
Add that to a newly announced debt offering, and an analyst said Clearwire should get enough cash to finish a key network project. It’s rolling out a 4G wireless network using LTE technology; its existing 4G network uses WiMAX technology...
|
-
 Commerce Bancshares Inc. reported record earnings for 2011, thanks to a strong loan portfolio.
Kansas City-based Commerce (Nasdaq: CBSH), the parent of Commerce Bank, on Tuesday announced net income of $256.3 million, or $2.82 a share, up 15.6 percent from $221.7 million, or $2.40 a share, in 2010.
The return on average assets was 1.32 percent, compared with 1.22 percent the previous year.
“We are pleased to report record earnings in 2011, which was achieved despite a difficult operating environment of weak loan demand and record-low interest rates,” CEO David Kemper said in a release...
|
-
 Kansas City residents may not have access to Google Inc.’s ultra-fast Internet network yet — but at least a deal on cheap barbecue is within their reach.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has decided to enter the daily deal market in Kansas City.
The tech titan announced Tuesday that it had launched Google Offers in Kansas City, starting off with a $5 for $10 promotion for Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque Restaurant.
Google rolled out the platform nationally in June, targeting 38 cities by this week.
Kansas City was one of five new markets to get Google Offers on Tuesday...
|
-
While most of us will be watching President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight on television or online, Sister Berta Sailer will be watching in person, KSHB reports.
The co-founder of Operation Breakthrough, Missouri’s largest nonprofit daycare, was invited to the addresss by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. He also invited Sister Corita Bussanmas, who co-founded the Kansas City charity.
“She is a true champion of others...” Cleaver said.
Sister Berta said she hopes lawmakers will hear what she thinks about the state of the union.
|
-
 An independent audit finds that former Kansas Bioscience Authority CEO Tom Thornton wiped files and other information from his agency-issued laptop after resigning.
The KBA released the results of the forensic audit on Monday. Accounting firm BKD LLP, based in Springfield, Mo., conducted the audit.
“Overall, the forensic audit affirms that the KBA’s investment process is diligent, and it makes no significant findings or exceptions related to KBA expenditures or conflicts of interest,” KBA Chairman Dan Watkins said in a release...
|
-
 Kansas City Southern’s record-setting $530 million in revenue and 522,000 carloads made for strong fourth-quarter earnings and led to record yearly revenue of $2.1 billion.
During the fourth quarter, automotive revenue increased by 30 percent, and intermodal was close behind with a 29 percent increase. Coal revenue also had a solid showing, increasing by 20 percent.
Carloads increased 7 percent compared with the same period last year. For the year, carloads reached 2 million, the first time the company has reached that level...
|
-
It’s exactly one year from the time the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant will move to its new $467 million location in south Kansas City. That 19-month feat will happen with the help of six relocation firms that won $80 million worth of contracts for the work.
The plant is moving from its current location at the Bannister Federal Complex to a campus eight miles south, at Botts Road and Missouri Highway 150.
“The one-year countdown to moving into the National Security Campus is an exciting and challenging time for all of us at the Kansas City Plant,” Mark Holecek, manager of NNSA’s Kansas City site office, said in a written statement...
|
-
Workers in the Kansas City metro area average $44,060 in annual pay, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That works out to about $21.18 an hour, landing Kansas City barely inside the top 100 average salaries for metro areas. The data was compiled by On Numbers, a blog affiliated with the Kansas City Business Journal.
The Kansas City metro area ranked 98th nationally out of 406 areas. The Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo., metro ranked one spot higher on the list with average annual pay of $44,100, and Springfield, Ill...
|
-
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released Central National Bank from a formal supervisory agreement the bank has been operating under since September 2009.
The OCC originally placed Central National Bank — which has two branch offices in Gardner — under the agreement after determining that it “engaged in unsafe and unsound banking practices relating to its board and management oversight, strategic planning, credit administration and credit risk management.”
However, the OCC has determined that Central National Bank has met all of the special conditions placed on it and no longer requires the formal agreement...
|
-
 Euronet Worldwide Inc., a Leawood company that provides secure payment services, has reported a criminal computer security breach.
Euronet (Nasdaq: EEFT) said the breach targeted a “small portion” of its European business in late 2011, according a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The event marks the global electronic payments provider’s first data breach, CEO Michael Brown said in an interview.
Euronet shares dropped 69 cents — roughly 4 percent — Monday afternoon, hitting $18...
|
-
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. reportedly is cutting thousands of jobs, a move expected to hit all 1,200 of the retailer’s U.S. stores.
The department store chain, based in Plano, Texas, is cutting positions that involve re-tagging and putting up temporary signs, according to a report by the New York Post.
J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) has 10 full-price stores in the Kansas City area: three in Overland Park; two in Kansas City; and one each in Kansas City, Kan., Lenexa, Lee’s Summit, Independence and Leavenworth...
|
-
Legal Aid of Western Missouri has filed a lawsuit on behalf of victims of an alleged foreclosure rescue scam operating out of Mission.
According to the suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Death Productions LP promised to help elderly women lower their mortgage payments by negotiating with lenders in exchange for a monthly fee.
“Then they do nothing, and you end up losing your home,” said Jim Jenkins, a Legal Aid lawyer representing Marilyn Bowman of Raytown and Doris Linningham of Kansas City...
|
-
Alliant Techsystems Inc. has a new competitor for the management contract to run Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence.
BAE Systems Inc. and Olin Corp.’s Winchester Ammunition Division announced Monday that they formed a joint venture — U.S. Munitions LLC — that will submit a proposal for the Lake City management contract.
The Independence plant — which runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week — produces more than 1 billion rounds of ammunition a year. It’s the nation’s main supplier of practice rounds used to train soldiers...
|
-
 Kansas City-area gas prices spiked by 8.3 cents a gallon during the past week, carrying the average price to $3.20 a gallon Sunday, according to KCGasPrices.com.
That’s much higher than the national increase of 0.6 cents a gallon to an average price of $3.34.
The Kansas City price is 24.1 cents a gallon higher than the same day last year and 26 cents higher than a month ago. Nationally, prices have risen 25.3 cents from a year ago and 11.8 cents from a month ago.
GasBuddy.com operates KCGasPrices...
|
-
 When President Obama denied a permit last week for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would move Canadian tar sands oil to the Gulf Coast, reaction was swift.
Environmental groups rejoiced, and Republicans and business groups grumbled about jobs lost.
The pipeline project would extend an existing line to Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, then create a shortcut for the oil from Hardiesty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb. — essentially drawing the third side of a triangle, the other two sides being the existing line...
|
-
 Just as the dust settled on the University of Missouri-Kansas City Henry W. Bloch School of Management’s last No. 1 ranking, it received another, the business school announced Monday.
The U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship has named the entrepreneurship MBA program through the UMKC Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation as the best model in the nation.
The association dubbed the degree program at Bloch the 2012 National Model Graduate Entrepreneurship Program based on the quality of its faculty, student support, innovation, program comprehensiveness and impact on the community...
|
-
The Missouri Department of Transportation would not hold a public vote about using tolls to help pay to rebuild Interstate 70, KSDK reports.
According to the report, MoDOT Director Kevin Keith said private-sector companies would finance the project, getting their repayment by collecting tolls. The proposed multibillion-dollar project would stretch from near Wentzville to Interstate 470 near Kansas City.
|
-
A senior executive at Ferrellgas Partners LP resigned Thursday, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
George Koloroutis was senior vice president of Ferrellgas Inc., the general partner of the Overland Park-based propane distributor (NYSE: FGP), and president of Ferrell North America. He will remain a paid adviser through 2016.
The company recently announced that it laid off about a tenth of its Kansas City work force, leaving about 300 employees at its Overland Park and Liberty offices...
|
-
Gigabit Challenge organizer Herb Sih turned a potentially embarrassing mid-event development into a moment of pride for the techies who poured into the Kansas City Public Library’s plaza branch on Jan. 18.
But the results of the much-anticipated entrepreneurship contest tied to Google Inc.’s to-be launched network in the Kansas Cities still may have some locals with their tails between their legs.
Sih, managing partner of ThingBig Partners LLC, asked the 250-plus crowd that had showed for the competition (dubbed @GBChallengeKC on Twitter) to give themselves a round of applause...
|
-
Women’s fashion boutique Free People will open on the Country Club Plaza in the spring.
The store will open in 2,272 square feet at 440 Nichols Road, near Burberry.
“Free People is an outstanding exclusive addition to the Plaza,” Glenn Stephenson, vice president of Highwoods Properties Inc.’s (NYSE: HIW) Kansas City division, said in a written statement. “We’re proud to be the first to bring this unique and exciting boutique to Kansas City and the region.”
Free People started in the 1970s in Philadelphia...
|
-
 If a Wichita official’s predictions are true, Kansas City International Airport could lose some traffic when Southwest Airlines Co. starts operating flights from Wichita.
Victor White, an official with the Wichita Airport Authority, said the 2013 addition of Southwest service at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (Code: ICT) could keep hundreds of passengers a day from leaving Wichita to catch flights at other airports — especially if Southwest (NYSE: LUV) adds new destinations there, according to the Wichita Business Journal, an affiliate of the Kansas City Business Journal...
|
-
 HCA Midwest Health System has named Patrick Kueny as COO of Lee’s Summit Medical Center, effective Feb. 13.
Kueny is the current vice president of Midwest Physicians, which comprises 278 physicians employed at HCA Midwest’s hospitals and clinics in the Kansas City area. The organization had around 90 physicians when he joined five years ago, the health system said in a release Thursday.
“Pat’s knowledge of HCA’s operations in the Kansas City area and his roots in Lee’s Summit make him an excellent addition to the leadership team,” Jackie DeSouza, the hospital’s CEO, said in the release...
|
-
Missouri Rep. Jerry Nolte announced Friday that he intends to sponsor legislation that would cut state businesses’ taxes in half.
The Gladstone Republican has yet to file the bill, but in a release he said it would phase in the reductions over five years.
Nolte’s plan would lower business taxes by 10 percent in each of the next three years. The reductions would continue two more years, provided tax revenues have not declined.
“Government does not create jobs; private enterprise does,” Nolte said...
|
-
Adaptive Software LLC, a software technology startup that recently expanded its Shawnee headquarters, plans to add 10 employees.
The expansion comes on the heels of a January acquisition of a similar company based in Las Vegas. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Adaptive, which creates products for the pharmacy benefits management and health care industry, increased its inaugural 2010 revenue of $700,000 to $1.7 million in 2011, helping fuel its winter expansion, President Joe Layne said in an interview...
|
-
 Looks like the HomeTown Buffet and Ryan’s restaurants in the Kansas City area are safe, at least for now.
Owner Buffets Inc., which owns seven restaurants in the Kansas City area, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization earlier this week — its second such filing in four years.
On Friday, the Eagan, Minn., company released a list of 81 restaurants that it closed Thursday and Friday. The chopping block spared Kansas but took three Missouri restaurants — in Florissant, O’Fallon and Springfield...
|
-
 The rollout of the all-new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu hit another milestone Thursday, when the first shipment of Malibu Eco models went to North American dealerships.
Produced at the General Motors Co. assembly plant in Fairfax, the Malibu Eco contains e-Assist technology that allows for an estimated 25 miles per gallon in the city and 37 mpg on the highway. The car carries a lightweight lithium-ion battery to provide an electric boost under certain conditions, bumping up fuel economy by 12 percent compared with a standard 4-cylinder engine...
|
-
The Kansas City Council’s 4th and 6th districts have been the big winners — scratch that, the only winners — in successful new business recruitment projects so far this fiscal year.
An interim report from the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City released on Friday morning showed that 10 new businesses were brought into Kansas City since July 1, bringing a total of 1,320 jobs. (Scroll to the bottom of the article for a full list.)
All of those businesses landed in the 4th and 6th council districts...
|
-
 We're officially two weeks away from the grand opening of the new, $411 million Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, and work there is nearly complete.
For those of you who haven't been able to sneak in for a tour, we've compiled photos of the project in the midst of construction and now — they're positioned back to back in the slide show to the right. What do you think of the progress?
|
-
 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the top residential real estate agents and teams in the Kansas City area, based on sales closed last year.
The list saw a lot of movement from last year and included four teams that weren’t listed last year. Most of the top five reported higher sales in 2011 than in 2010.
Here’s No. 5:
Sharon Sigman
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 4
Sharon Sigman, based in Overland Park, reported $39.3 million in sales closed in 2011, compared with $47...
|
-
An adviser to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback told legislators Thursday that the proposed cut to income tax rates would set the state up for long-term growth, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
“If it continues in the direction that he’s going, I think you can really create a state of prosperity here in Kansas,” Arthur Laffer, a former Reagan administration economist, said, according to the report.
|
-
A former Kansas City resident pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling at least $100,000 while working as an executive for two area nonprofit organizations.
Sean Patrick Taylor, also known as J.R. Wayne Gourley, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to charges in an Aug. 10 indictment, according to a release from the office of Beth Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Taylor admitted that he embezzled money from the Epilepsy Foundation of Kansas and Western Missouri and Westport Cooperative Services between April 2007 and May 2010...
|
-
 Kansas City International Airport soared near 10.2 million passengers last year, drawing 2.5 percent more traffic than in 2010. That’s the best year-to-year gain since 2007 — before the recession.
The Kansas City Aviation Department reported Thursday that KCI (Code: MCI) handled 10.16 million arriving and departing passengers during the year. It was helped by a strong December — passenger counts rose 4.4 percent compared with a year prior and hit 838,351.
Boardings alone rose 2.6 percent last year and topped 5...
|
-
 The Overland Park Chamber of Commerce has hired Beth Johnson as senior vice president of economic development, effective Feb. 6.
The chamber announced Thursday it had brought Johnson on board to help the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Council bring in, expand and keep businesses in Overland Park.
She replaces Lavern Squier, who left in the fall.
“Beth has an impressive knowledge and record of success in economic development, and we are pleased to have someone of her caliber join our economic development team,” chamber President Tracey Osborne said in a release...
|
-
Kansas City engineering and architecture firm Burns & McDonnell has been named as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine.
Burns & McDonnell came in at No. 26 on the list for its 25-year record of employee ownership, low turnover rate and high compensation.
The firm was the only Kansas City-based company to make the listing, which will appear in the Feb. 3 print edition of the magazine.
Burns & McDonnell ranked No. 50 on the list in 2009 but was absent from the list in 2010 and 2011, a company spokesman said Thursday...
|
-
 Kansas City Council members are proposing the formation of a transportation development district in Downtown to help pay for the proposed Main Street streetcar project.
A City Council committee on Thursday approved a resolution that would allow the city and the Port Authority of Kansas City to jointly ask a circuit court to create the district. The full council is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday afternoon.
The district is expected to include property along the streetcar’s proposed route on Main Street between the River Market and Crown Center...
|
-
Lee’s Summit may be a step closer to landing a signature development project, a gateway that would greet travelers heading out of Kansas City on Interstate 470 with new Class A office space, recreational facilities, multifamily housing and retail.
The Lee’s Summit City Council on Thursday will discuss the development of the I-470/View High Drive corridor, which includes conceptual plans by Happy Valley Properties to put a mixed-use development on more than 200 acres at the interchange.
Happy Valley Properties, an entity that includes ViraCor Laboratories founder Phillip “Flip” Short, has been buying up surrounding property for years...
|
-
 YRC Worldwide Inc. has named Michelle Russell as its top lawyer, effective Feb. 13.
The Overland Park-based trucking giant (Nasdaq: YRCW) said Thursday that Russell, 42, had been appointed as general counsel, executive vice president and secretary.
She takes over for Jeff Bennett, who had filled the position on an interim basis.
Former Embarq Corp. CEO Tom Gerke previously had held the position, starting in December 2010. Early this month, Kansas City-based H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) announced that Gerke had taken the general counsel role there...
|
-
When Jack Henry & Associates was accused last year of infringing on a California company’s patents, something about the accusation smelled fishy to the Monett, Mo., banking services firm.
An investigation led Jack Henry to think it had been victimized by a Russian hacker.
It all started to come out Oct. 7, when one of Jack Henry’s bank clients received a letter threatening the client with litigation and containing accusations of patent violations on a mobile banking application. The client turned to Jack Henry because the alleged violation involved a Jack Henry application...
|
-
 Netsmart Technologies Inc. has named Dr. Dennis Morrison as chief clinical officer.
The New York-based billing and medical records software provider, which soon plans to call Kansas City its home, created the new CCO position this month.
Morrison, former CEO of the Centerstone Research Institute, based in Columbus, Ind., brings a 40-year background in behavioral health.
Morrison will oversee Netsmart staff’s efforts to change clinical care in behavioral health with an emphasis on evidence-based practices and care, according to a release...
|
-
UnitedLex Corp. has appointed former IBM executive Pavan Vaish as its global COO.
Vaish will oversee daily business operations for the Overland Park-based legal process outsourcing company, which has offices in London; Tel Aviv, Israel; and India.
He previously was responsible for more than 40,000 employees as CEO of IBM Daksh, the India-based business process outsourcing arm of IBM (NYSE: IBM).
“Pavan’s tremendous operational knowledge will help UnitedLex accelerate its rapid, profitable growth by developing greater synergy among our operations on three continents,” UnitedLex CEO Daniel Reed said in a written statement...
|
-
BMO Harris Bank will cut 350 jobs during the next three months, but the effect in the Kansas City area will be minimal, company spokesman Jim Kappel said.
The cuts include 157 jobs in Milwaukee and 143 throughout the rest of the company. The employees were informed of the pending job losses on Monday.
“In the Kansas City area, we’re talking about a very small number of employees,” Kappel said. “It’s mainly administrative functions where we had some overlap.”
BMO Financial acquired Marshall & Ilsley Corp...
|
-
AT&T Inc.’s data plans for smartphones and tablets will rise by as much as 33 percent, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Data use is rising about 40 percent a year, an AT&T (NYSE: T) spokesman said. With the failure of AT&T’s bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, the company may need to be more aggressive about managing its network, the newspaper reports.
Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) offers a unlimited data plan for its wireless customers.
|
-
A New York startup took home the $100,000 grand prize Thursday at Gigabit Challenge, a Kansas City-based entrepreneurship contest devoted to Google Inc.
Think Big Partners LLC, a Kansas City business incubator, last year asked young companies to pitch startup ideas that would take advantage of Google’s ultra-fast Internet network. The network is set to go live in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., sometime this year.
Of 17 finalists, SEIN Analytics & Asset Management captured the judges’ attention with its cloud-based software aimed at compiling financial information for bankers and investors attempting to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements...
|
-
Google and Wikipedia may have grabbed the most attention with their opposition to congressional anti-Internet piracy proposals, but local politicians mostly opposed the proposals, too.
The legislation, aimed at stopping foreign websites from selling pirated products or media, would prohibit domestic companies from selling Internet advertising to these sites. Search engines also would be banned from listing websites known or suspected of piracy. The proposals are called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP (intellectual property) Act in the Senate...
|
-
 A local startup joined Craigslist, Wikipedia and other online powerhouses Wednesday in a protest against congressional anti-Internet piracy proposals.
Lenexa-based Surefoot Communications’ silent demonstration didn’t include a dramatic black bar across its website, like the one Google sported Wednesday. But the new social media consultant’s president and sole employee, Mike Burns, went a step further, expressing his lone voice with a site shutdown.
On Wednesday, the site, surefootcommunications...
|
-
 University of Missouri System interim President Steve Owens reacted to Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposal to slash $106 million from higher education financing by pointing out that Missouri already ranks 45th among states in per-capita higher education spending.
That’s lower than all of Missouri’s neighboring states and states in the South.
“It is fair to ask how long we can continue to do more with less,” Owens said in a written statement Wednesday. “After a decade of reductions in state support and implementation of operational efficiencies, we are near the point where either the level of funding will have to increase or the scope and quality of services will have to decrease...
|
-
President Obama on Wednesday denied a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
The president earlier had said he would not make a decision on the project until 2013, in order to allow time to review an alternate route that would avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska.
Legislation that extended the payroll tax cut, however, required him to make a decision on the project — which incorporates a Kansas route — by Feb...
|
-
Block Real Estate Services LLC, which was selected by the Kansas City, Mo., School District to list its vacant school buildings for sale or lease, has set a Feb. 15 deadline for offers on four more shuttered schools.
The KCMSD has closed several school buildings over the years, particularly as part of a 2010 district-wide downsizing plan.
The newly listed buildings are:
• Askew Elementary School, 2630 Topping Ave., a 58,190-square-foot building on nearly 4 acres.
• Bingham Middle School, 7618 Wyandotte St...
|
-
 Kansas City ranks 190th out of 200 metropolitan-area economies around the world based on performance, according to a Brookings Institution report.
The report deemed Kansas City as one of only 12 local economies globally that was in “full recession” in 2011.
A 0.5 percent decline in employment from 2010 to 2011 and a 0.6 percent median income drop dragged the local economy in Brooking’s annual Global MetroMonitor, which analyzed data on production, employment, income and population to determine the rankings...
|
-
 Buffets Inc., which owns seven restaurants in the Kansas City area, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and expects to shutter 81 restaurants throughout the country.
The filing marks the company’s second bankruptcy in four years.
The Eagan, Minn., company runs restaurants under several brand names — locally, HomeTown Buffet and Ryan’s. The HomeTown Buffet restaurants are in Shawnee, Independence and Kansas City. The Ryan’s locations are in Independence, Shawnee, Raymore and Olathe...
|
-
 Johnson County led Kansas’ four large counties in employment growth between June 2010 and June 2011, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In a tale of the tough employment picture, Johnson County’s 1.6 percent employment increase topped the 0.9 percent national average and ranked it 74th among the nation’s large counties.
BLS data shows that Wyandotte County’s employment increased 1.2 percent during the year that ended in June — good for a national ranking of 104th...
|
-
Students, faculty and staff at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Rockhurst University now have access to the area’s first car-sharing service, providing a pool of vehicles that members can reserve on an hourly or daily basis.
The universities on Wednesday announced the partnership with Zipcar Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., company that says it has operations on more than 145 campuses in North America.
With Zipcar, university members 21 and older pay $25 to join, then pay fees for use, beginning at $7 an hour and $66 a day...
|
-
 Andy Klein Mazda has sold, prompting a name change to Overland Park Mazda.
New owner Doug Kinney has big ambitions — including joining the top 10 Mazda dealerships in the nation during the next two years.
“Mazda is an underperforming franchise in Kansas City — it has lots of upside opportunity,” he said.
Until about a year ago, Kinney was CEO of VinSolutions Inc., a rapidly growing Overland Park software company that helps auto dealers slash costs. He said he had helped shape the company’s technology and was one of its largest shareholders until it sold to AutoTrader...
|
-
 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon delivered his 2012 State of the State address on Tuesday evening. The full text is below, made available by Nixon's office.
Legislative leaders, Judges of the Missouri Supreme Court, Lieutenant Governor Kinder, state officials, members of the General Assembly, members of my cabinet, and my fellow Missourians.
It’s an honor to be here this evening, joined by Missouri’s First Lady, Georganne Nixon, and members of our family.
Over the last year, many Missouri communities have braved unthinkable hardships...
|
-
MidAmerica Nazarene University said Tuesday that David Spittal will be its next president.
Trustees of the Olathe-based university elected Spittal to the post after a seven-month search process. He will begin Feb. 1.
Spittal retired as president of Southern Wesleyan University in Central, S.C., in June after 17 years. He also had been a vice president and dean at Indiana Wesleyan University for seven years.
Spittal succeeds Edwin Robinson, who resigned as president of MidAmerica Nazarene in June...
|
-
 Southwest Airlines Co., the largest carrier at Kansas City International Airport, will give its aircraft interiors a cosmetic and environmental makeover.
The cabin updates include recyclable carpet, a brighter color scheme and a more durable, eco-friendly and comfortable seat that weighs less than the current seat. The new interior also boosts the number of seats from 137 to 143 while increasing under-seat room for carry-on luggage.
Click here for a 360-degree tour the new interior. Or click on the photo to the right to begin a slideshow of Southwest's (NYSE: LUV) upgrades...
|
-
Prairie Village officials want to discuss the future of a 40-acre site around 84th Street and Mission Road that includes a possible mixed-use development.
The area includes the 18-acre Mission Valley Middle School site.
MVS LLC, an investor group that includes RED Development LLC’s Dan Lowe, owns the middle school at 85th Street and Mission Road that was closed in August 2011 as part of the Shawnee Mission School District’s downsizing plan.
The Prairie Village City Council on Tuesday night will discuss whether the city wants to start the process of amending the Mission Road Comprehensive Plan, which could cost as much as $90,000...
|
-
Sprint Nextel Corp. subscribers on the Kansas side of the state line are about to get intimately acquainted with small triangles or the letter R appearing on their cellphone screens.
The symbols appear when a Sprint (NYSE: S) device roams off its network, indicating that charges may apply for certain phone plans. Roaming also means potentially spotty voice service and slower data speeds.
Starting next month, the devices of Sprint subscribers veering outside metropolitan areas in the Sunflower State or Oklahoma will be knocked off the wireless carrier’s network and forced to rely on other area networks for service...
|
-
Three sleep therapy testing facilities in the Kansas City area have closed after their Texas-based parent filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the Dallas Business Journal reports.
Total Sleep Holdings Inc. closed its Irving, Texas, headquarters on Dec. 8 and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A bankruptcy judge dismissed the case on Jan. 10 after the trustee said the company lacked the cash or assets to pay off more than one creditor. The judge ruled that Total Sleep can’t refile the case for at least a year...
|
-
 CrossFirst Bank has hired Thomas Robinson to fill the new position of chief credit officer, overseeing lending activities for the Leawood-based bank.
Robinson has 30 years of experience in banking, most recently as chief lending officer for Morrill & Janes Bank. He also was a vice president for Gold Banc Corp. Inc. for several years.
“We are pleased to have an accomplished credit executive such as Tom join our team,” CrossFirst CEO Mike Maddox said in a Tuesday release. “He has tremendous credentials and lending experience that will benefit our customers...
|
-
Saint Luke’s Health System has received a grant from the March of Dimes to help reduce the number of mothers electing to deliver their babies early without a medical reason.
In a Tuesday release, the health system, which has 11 hospitals and clinics in the Kansas City region, said the $7,200 grant will go toward developing materials for doctors and patients detailing the medical risks of delivering a baby early. It also will increase data-gathering and quality improvement initiatives with the goal of eliminating elective deliveries before 39 weeks gestation...
|
-
 A weekend shooting at Independence Center left two injured and one lingering question — how will the mall respond to perceived danger by shoppers?
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG), which owns the center, has a policy against interviews about security-related matters. However, the mall, at 39th Street and Missouri Highway 291, did release a written statement.
“Please understand that our primary concern is always for the safety and well-being of our shoppers and mall employees, and our thoughts are with the individual who was involved in this situation,” mall Manager Vernon Meckel said in the statement...
|
-
 Ferrellgas Partners LP has laid off about a tenth of its Kansas City-area employees, the company said Tuesday.
The Overland Park-based propane distributor (NYSE: FGP) let go of about 30 employees during the past two weeks, spokesman Scott Brockelmeyer said.
The reductions took place in a range of departments, including marketing, office services and employee development.
That leaves Ferrellgas with about 50 employees at its Overland Park headquarters and 250 in Liberty. The layoffs affected both locations, which provide corporate support to the propane company, which has 1 million customers and 4,000 employees nationwide...
|
-
 Sheila Taylor, the former CFO of YRC Worldwide Inc., has been named as senior vice president of finance for a global logistics subsidiary of competing trucker Con-Way Inc.
Con-Way (NYSE: CNW), which is based in San Mateo, Calif., announced Taylor’s appointment to Menlo Worldwide Logistics on Monday, adding that she’ll be based at Menlo’s headquarters in Portland, Ore.
Taylor spent nine years with Overland Park-based YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW), becoming CFO in 2009. She stepped down in March amid the company’s financial reorganization...
|
-
The world just may end in 2012. Got your bottled water and canned tuna ready?
I have to admit, I’m really underprepared. I mean, I was a heck of a Girl Scout — sold a ton of cookies. But I still can’t tie a slip knot, load a gun or even tell you which berries are safe to eat.
Yup, in the apocalypse, I’m a goner unless someone takes pity on me. So I have to admit I have a hopeful bias that the Mayans were wrong or just got bored making their calendar and stopped.
The problem with me (there are many) is that while I can find things to be afraid of at the bottom of a cereal bowl, I am eternally optimistic about human potential...
|
-
Renewed worry about the European debt crisis has investors bracing for another round of volatility in U.S. markets, The New York Times reports.
Late last week, Standard & Poor’s cut its ratings on Italy and Spain and stripped France of its AAA debt rating.
On Monday, it followed up by downgrading the credit rating on the European Financial Stability Facility from AAA to AA+, threatening that further cuts could be coming.
The EFSF is a bailout fund aimed at shoring up weaker members of the euro zone.
|
-
 Break out the confetti, Missouri.
If Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to cut the angel tax credit program goes through, the Sunflower State no longer would have the upper hand in incentive discussions among technology startups, said attorney Greg Kratofil of Polsinelli Shughart PC in Kansas City.
Kratofil said that eliminating angel tax credits could unravel entrepreneurial activity around the highly anticipated arrival of Google Inc.’s network.
“It seems very counter to having a billion-dollar investment in your area — and you take away something that helps fund those innovations and those ideas,” Kratofil said...
|
-
 The win|win campaign’s gathering on Thursday evening was a who’s who of Kansas City business.
Hallmark Cards Inc. CEO Don Hall Jr., new Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George, UMB Bank President Peter deSilva and dozens of other local executives showed up in support of the fledgling effort to bolster the number of women represented on corporate boards and in executive suites of Kansas City-area companies.
The initiative has created buzz among leaders of great Kansas City organizations, said Denise Kruse, CEO of AdamsGabbert and outgoing chair of the win|win steering committee...
|
-
 Kansas City will receive $740,000 in grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines to rehabilitate low-income housing and expand a homeless shelter. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, announced the awards Friday.
Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City Inc. and U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) will use $283,000 in grant money to rehabilitate foreclosed homes. NHS said the money will bridge the gap of what it costs to acquire and rehabilitate low-income homes and what it can sell the homes for after rehabilitation...
|
-
 Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants to cut the University of Kansas Medical Center’s appropriation and hopes to use increased casino revenue to help pay off state debt, according to the 429-page fiscal 2013 budget proposal he released Thursday.
The proposed $14.14 billion budget would end with the required 7.5 percent balance. In his State of the State address, Brownback also proposed moving toward a flatter income tax, advocating cutting individual income tax rates and eliminating income tax credits, deductions and exemptions...
|
-
 Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed 2013 budget would eliminate almost two dozen tax credit programs, including one that has attracted millions of dollars of investment into technology startups.
The angel investor credit, created in 2004, allows individuals investing in qualified companies to get back half of their investment, to $50,000 a company.
The program has been successful at attracting high-growth firms to the state and leveraging those credits into additional investments and jobs.
In fiscal 2010, the last year for which numbers are available, 287 investors claimed $5...
|
-
 Black & Veatch has named Cindy Wallis-Lage as president of its global water division, the Overland Park-based engineering firm announced Friday.
Global water work produced 33 percent of Black & Veatch’s overall revenue in 2010, a company spokesman said. The company yielded $2.3 billion in revenue in 2010.
The global water business is responsible for all water infrastructure projects in the United States and overseas. In the United States, many municipalities are grappling with federally mandated sewer infrastructure improvements, triggering a wealth of work for local engineering firms...
|
-
Soft Surroundings, a new women’s apparel and home goods store, will open on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza in late spring.
The St. Louis-based retailer will open in 4,800 square feet at 405 Nichols Road, next to Cole Haan.
“We’re very pleased that Soft Surroundings will be joining the Plaza’s exclusive lineup of outstanding retailers,” Glenn Stephenson, vice president of Highwoods Properties’ Kansas City division, said in a written release. “The merchandise and level of quality offered at Soft Surroundings are a great fit for the Plaza customer...
|
-
The Kansas City Business Journal now is taking nominations for its 2012 Champions of Business awards program.
The program honors Kansas City-area companies that are proven winners, showing excellence in areas such as financial performance, innovation and community involvement.
The nomination deadline is Feb. 10. An independent panel of judges will review applications and select winning companies.
All of the companies in the 2012 Champions of Business program will be recognized in a special supplement in the May 18 edition of the Kansas City Business Journal and at an awards luncheon that day at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel...
|
-
 Many television figures play sour notes about the economy, but reality isn’t as bad as they convey, economist Brian Wesbury says.
Wesbury, the chief economist for First Trust Advisors LP of Wheaton, Ill., was the keynote speaker at the annual economic forecast presented by the Association for Corporate Growth and Financial Executives International on Friday morning. He spoke to about 300 people in downtown Kansas City.
Wesbury said we’re living in the Tim Tebow economy, referencing the controversial Denver Broncos quarterback...
|
-
 In this week’s edition, the Kansas City Business Journal ranks the top MBA Programs in the metro area by fall 2011 enrollment.
This year’s list of MBA Programs saw some shuffling near the top. Park University and Friends University ranked among the top five this year, edging out No. 6 Rockhurst University and the University of Phoenix, which declined to break out MBA candidates from its enrollment total this year.
Here’s No. 5:
University of Kansas Edwards Campus
2011 Rank: 5
2010 Rank: 5
The University of Kansas Edwards Campus reported 258 candidates enrolled in its MBA programs in fall 2011, compared with 280 a year earlier...
|
-
Executives and guests of H&R Block Inc. are ringing in the 2012 tax season at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, with Chairman Robert Gerard ringing the opening bell.
The Kansas City-based tax service provider (NYSE: HRB) has almost 11,000 offices, including in hundreds of Walmart stores.
The company got an early start to tax season this year, opening all of its offices on Jan. 3.
|
-
 The Kansas City Council on Thursday passed a request for tax increment financing for a $27 million redevelopment of the Lyric Theatre as a federal training facility.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing. The Federal Aviation Administration still is deciding whether to move its Center for Management and Executive Leadership from Palm Coast, Fla., to Kansas City or one of the six other cities looking to land the project.
The unused Lyric Theatre is at 1029 Central Ave. in Kansas City.
The project holds the carrot of an estimated 100 jobs, plus hundreds of filled hotel rooms for traveling FAA officials visiting the facility...
|
-
 Although it may appear that Sprint Nextel Corp. got the short end of the stick in an iPhone purchase agreement, Apple Inc. could have bigger and better things in store for the Overland Park-based wireless carrier — like a new Sprint-exclusive iPhone, a telecommunications analyst said Thursday.
In October, Apple announced that Sprint (NYSE: S) would be the third national carrier to sell the iPhone.
But that partnership came at a price.
Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer said the company agreed to buy roughly $15 billion in iPhones from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) during the next four years...
|
-
Multi-Color Corp. is closing its Kansas City-area location, laying off 65 people.
According to a Tuesday WARN Act filing in Missouri, the layoff would occur by March 31. A spokesman with the Missouri WARN office said the facility was shutting down completely.
An employee at the facility in Platte County said the location had been bought out and was closing its doors. The facility is at 1800 N.W. Vivon Road in Northmoor.
According to its website, Multi-Color (Nasdaq: LABL) produces labels for home and personal-care products; food and beverage containers; and wine and spirits...
|
-
A Country Club Plaza hotel has finished a multimillion-dollar renovation, and a sandwich chain is expanding into the Kansas City area.
Those are some highlights of this week’s restaurant and retail roundup:
• The Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza has completed a $3.5 million renovation.
The money was spread out among new beds, carpeting, fabrics, a heating and cooling system, and other projects.
“As Kansas City is becoming recognized internationally as a center for both business and culture, it was our hotel’s turn to contribute to that level of sophistication,” Stephanie Porter, the hotel’s sales director, said in a written release...
|
-
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback laid a lot on the table with his State of the State address — not the least of which are big tax reforms.
We thought it would be worth getting a few insights from a professional, so I called Scott Slabotsky, a Leawood-based lead managing director with CBIZ Inc.
Brownback’s proposal to cut the highest individual rate from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent would be significant — about a 20 percent reduction in state income taxes for those taxpayers, Slabotsky said.
However, Brownback also proposed getting rid of income tax credits, deductions and exemptions — ranging from deductions for adoptions and day care to the home mortgage deduction...
|
-
 Gov. Sam Brownback gave the annual State of the State address to the Kansas Legislature on Wednesday evening. Here is the text of his speech:
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Legislators, Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court; leaders of Kansas sovereign Native American Nations, my wonderful wife and First Lady of Kansas, Mary – and My Fellow Kansans - Good evening and welcome back.
Our family just experienced its first wedding with our oldest daughter Abby marrying Eric Teetsel. After that excitement, emotion – and expense, I need to get back to work...
|
-
 BATS Global Markets will have eight new exchange-traded funds as its first primary listings on BATS Exchange.
The ETFs are from BlackRock Inc.’s (NYSE: BLK) iShares Exchange Traded Funds business.
The iShares MSCI Norway Capped Investable Market Index Fund will be the first listed, beginning trading Jan. 24. The other seven funds will begin trading soon afterward.
Lenexa-based BATS’ new status as a U.S. primary listings venue offers an alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Exchange, meaning BATS can handle initial public offerings, stock listing transfers and dual-listed stocks...
|
-
Mariner Real Estate Management LLC has bought a stake in more than $101 million worth of real estate loans in partnership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The structured purchase included 62 performing and non-performing commercial real estate loans, commercial development and construction loans, and residential development and construction loans in Idaho, Washington and Utah. Their combined unpaid principal balance tops $101 million.
Leawood-based Mariner Real Estate beat out eight other groups in a competitive bidding process, paying $13...
|
-
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants to cut the state’s individual income tax rates, pursuing a tax code that is “fairer, flatter, and simpler,” according to his Wednesday evening State of the State address.
He proposed trimming the highest rate from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent, which Brownback said is the region’s second-lowest, as well as moving the bottom tax bracket down to 3 percent. In addition, the proposal would do away with individual state income tax on most small business income.
“While there are certainly factors a state cannot control when it comes to its economy, taxes are one area we do control,” Brownback said...
|
-
Gov. Sam Brownback promised a “fairer, flatter and simpler” tax code in his State of the State address Wednesday night. To do so, he proposed cutting income tax rates while also cutting some deductions, the Kansas City Business Journal reports.
Brownback’s plan calls for reducing the highest individual income tax rate from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent and cutting the bottom tax bracket to 3 percent. He also would eliminate individual income tax on most small business income.
To balance this, however, he wants to eliminate some tax credits, deductions and exemptions — ranging from deductions for adoptions and day care to the home mortgage deduction — and he asked the Legislature to limit growth in government spending to 2 percent a year.
|
-
Cerner Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and multiple other Kansas City-area employers will be trying to fill more than 200 jobs at a Thursday career fair.
More than 30 local employers are participating in the JobNewsKC.com Career Expo; interviews may happen at the free event, according to a release. Openings are for a wide range of jobs, including sales, customer service, management, hospitality, assembly, production, information technology, administrative, health care and warehouse positions across industries...
|
-
A Missouri Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph provided fraudulent identity documents to more than 3,500 illegal immigrants nationwide, according to allegations in a 40-count indictment unsealed Wednesday.
A federal grand jury in Kansas City indicted 14 defendants in a conspiracy that allegedly raked in more than $5 million since late 2009, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Those indicted included six members of a St. Joseph family and three Guatemalans living in Carthage, Mo...
|
-
 Ty Issa, owner of Larkspur Bistro & Bar in Wichita’s Old Town, has acquired an interest in YaYa’s Eurobistro at Bradley Fair, according to a release from Laham Development, which operates the shopping center.
The announcement was made by Paul Khoury, a partner with Overland Park-based PB&J Restaurants Inc., which owns YaYa’s, the release said. Issa, along with PB&J’s Patrick Khoury, son of Paul Khoury, will oversee management of the Bradley Fair YaYa’s, which opened in 1995.
PB&J has other of the restaurants in Overland Park, St...
|
-
The Kansas City region’s high-tech firms, banks and oil providers were the bright spots in an otherwise plodding pace of economic growth in late November and December, according to the Federal Reserve’s closely watched Beige Book report.
The report indicated modest economic expansion despite softening consumer spending, particularly for vehicles, restaurants and tourism. Manufacturing also pulled back.
Transportation was flat; residential and commercial real estate conditions still are weak...
|
-
Cerner Corp. is expanding its affiliation with Adventist Health, a California-based health care system.
Adventist Health, which has used Cerner’s electronic health record technology in its hospitals since 2001 and in its home-care operations since 2009, plans to incorporate the software in more than 130 outpatient clinics, the companies announced Wednesday.
The value to Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) of the expanded agreement was not disclosed.
In a release, Alan Soderblom, Adventist’s chief information officer, said the agreement allows seamless tracking of patients’ care as they move from acute care to outpatient to home care...
|
-
Kansans’ view of recycling has changed significantly since 2005, according to a survey released this week by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
At least 85 percent of the 300 Kansans surveyed in November said they recycled, a 20 percent jump from Community Recycling Survey results of six years earlier.
In a similar trend, 80 percent said they considered recycling to be “very important,” up from 60 percent in 2005.
Plastic, cardboard and magazines experienced the most dramatic increases among materials Kansans said they recycled on a regular basis...
|
-
Truman Medical Centers soon will unveil plans to attract a grocery store to its Hospital Hill neighborhood in an attempt to improve nearby residents’ access to fresh produce and healthy food.
Hospital spokesman Shane Kovac declined to provide specifics, saying only that the store would be in Kansas City's urban core and would open during the next 16 months. He said details would be released in the next 30 to 60 days.
In a November blog, Truman CEO John Bluford III first raised the possibility of bringing in a grocery store, part of an effort that also included replacing the hospital’s “fast food”-type cafeteria vendor with one offering more healthy choices...
|
-
Independence is taking a big swing at recovering millions it has spent buying replacement power since a 2006 explosion at its Blue Valley Power Station.
The city is suing Massachusetts-based TurboCare Inc. and TurboCare Gas Turbine Services LLC, subsidiaries of Siemens AG, for allegedly botching repairs on the plant’s gas turbine.
The suit also names as defendants the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, District Council of Kansas City and Vicinity, and two of its representatives, Frank Anderson and Tom Baker...
|
-
The company now known as Hostess Brands Inc. has a long history with Kansas City, its former headquarters site. Despite moving its base to the Dallas area a few years ago, the company hasn’t cut local ties.
On Wednesday, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — a process locals observed firsthand from 2004 through 2009, when what was then known as Interstate Bakeries Corp. scrambled to rise out of a prior Chapter 11 filing.
Below is a timeline describing the company’s past decade and linking you to our archived coverage...
|
-
Overland Park-based UnitedLex Corp. announced Wednesday that it had teamed up with Credit Suisse to form a new venture called LexLoan Services.
The company will be based in New York City; it has eight employees.
LexLoan will offer settlement services to companies that are in the process of selling various types of distressed loans in the United States and Europe. Basically, LexLoan makes sure all the legal details are covered and regulatory requirements met during the closing of the loan sale.
Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) brings its connections to the loan sellers and buyers, and UnitedLex brings technology and experience handling complex legal matters...
|
-
A fire that started in the basement of Liberty Hills Country Club’s clubhouse caused enough damage that investigators remain unsure about its cause.
The late afternoon Friday fire at the Liberty country club caused about $3.5 million in damage.
A Wednesday statement by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri Fire Marshal indicated that an investigation is ongoing.
The ATF is a federal agency that investigates fires and arsons.
A statement on the country club’s website said Liberty Hills will remain open for members and private golf play and will resume normal operations on Jan...
|
-
Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics has wrapped up the sale of its Family Health Partners business to Coventry Health Care Inc.
Coventry (NYSE: CVH), which is based in Bethesda, Md., did not disclose financial terms. The parties announced the deal in October and the closing Jan. 3.
Federal health care reform requirements prompted the sale of the Medicaid health plan, which was run by Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The program would have been asked to cover more adult patients, among other changes to cost and structure...
|
-
 Hostess Brands Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday — its second such filing during the past decade.
The bankruptcy filing lists between 50,000 and 100,000 creditors, with liabilities of more than $1 billion. Estimated assets are between $500 million and $1 billion.
Hostess, maker of iconic products such as Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has a $75 million financing commitment from lenders that will let it continue operating, the bankruptcy filing says.
The company formerly known as Interstate Bakeries Corp...
|
-
Bombardier Learjet will receive $16 million from the state of Kansas to help with the continued expansion of its Wichita facility, the Wichita Business Journal reports.
The company is spending about $600 million to prep its Wichita campus for work on a new Learjet 85, a project that is expected to create about 450 jobs over the next 10 years.
Gov. Sam Brownback announced the incentive package Tuesday.
|
-
Davis & Bellomo announced Tuesday that it acquired the accounting practice of Willa Franklin in Leawood, Kan., for an undisclosed amount.
Overland Park-based Davis & Bellomo was established in 2004 and has been looking to grow through acquisition. The company made its first acquisition in August 2010, paying an undisclosed amount for the practice of Gordon Gilpin, a sole practitioner in Leawood.
The latest acquisition is very similar.
Franklin was also a sole practitioner. She has more than 30 years of experience in accounting, including 13 years managing her practice, which focused on small businesses in the Kansas City area, primarily in the retail, restaurant and construction industries...
|
-
Esther George performed admirably in her first speech as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, avoiding political land mines, yet still stressing the importance of tackling pressing economic issues facing the nation.
George chose The Central Exchange, an organization designed to help women reach their full personal and professional potential, as the venue for her speech. The room was full of bankers, accountants, financial planners and businesspeople of all types. It was a respectful group — but hardly the type one would expect to lob softball questions...
|
-
 Ascension Insurance Inc. has acquired Falcone Williams Insurance — Ascension’s sixth acquisition since 2010.
Kansas City-based Ascension expects Falcone Williams LLC — a full-service agency based in Huntersville, N.C. — to help expand personal and business lines of insurance, the company said in a Tuesday release.
Ascension has been on an acquisition binge the past few years. Before the Falcone Williams acquisition, the company had more than 35 locations nationwide and 440 employees. Ascension expected revenue of about $75 million in 2011...
|
-
 The University of Kansas Hospital has provided an additional $2 million toward the KU Medical Center’s goal of its cancer center being designated a National Cancer Institute.
The hospital’s authority board said Tuesday that it agreed to make the annual contribution to its sister facility in Kansas City, Kan.
Half of the contribution will go toward general clinical research, $500,000 will support clinical trials, and $500,000 will support the Cancer Partners Advisory Board, which provides strategy for the cancer center...
|
-
Ticked that you’re meeting the in-laws for dinner this weekend?
Garmin can’t do anything about the awkward social engagement, but it can help build a mood-appropriate soundtrack for the drive there.
Whether drivers and passengers are in a “dark,” “calm,” “energetic” or “positive” mood, the navigational device maker is getting into the business of helping them navigate their music collections on the way to their destinations based on their frame of mind.
Garmin International, a unit of Garmin Ltd...
|
-
The new year is a time for resolutions, but it also seems to be the time when companies are announcing store closings.
The Kansas City area is feeling the pain of one chain’s closings: Sears is shuttering a store in Lee’s Summit, plus one in Lawrence.
But so far, the metro area has avoided the ax for other chains announcing downsizing in the new year.
On Jan. 4, Macy’s announced plans to close several stores in 2012 as part of an effort to pare its underperforming stores.
Included in the list of five Macy’s locations was the Topeka store in the West Ridge Mall, which opened in 1988 and employs 60...
|
-
 Kansas Democrats have proposed a school finance plan that they said would better finance education while reducing property taxes.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, and House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, presented their plan Tuesday, saying it would tap a state surplus to start restoring education financing in the 2013 fiscal year.
The plan would direct half of any excess revenue to schools after “down payments” of $45 million in each of the next two years.
“Cuts to Kansas schools have gone way too far in the last few years,” Davis said in a release...
|
-
 Esther George, the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, discussed her approach to monetary policy in a speech Tuesday to The Central Exchange.
“I view monetary policy as attempting to walk a fine line” between encouraging risk-taking and pushing it so far that it causes “the mispricing of risk,” George said in prepared comments.
In October, George succeeded longtime Kansas City Fed President Tom Hoenig, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 last year.
In her speech, George said the U...
|
-
 Esther George, the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, addressed The Central Exchange on Tuesday. Here are her remarks in their entirety, from a copy of her prepared speech:
I am honored to begin the New Year with a discussion of the economy at The Central Exchange, an organization that has been so important to Kansas City-area businesswomen. It was my distinguished predecessor, Tom Hoenig, who began the tradition of giving his first outlook speech of the year to The Central Exchange eight years ago...
|
-
 Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Tuesday appointed Karen Krauser as an associate circuit judge for the Clay County Circuit Court.
Krauser, 35, has been an assistant Clay County prosecutor since 2002 and also is a municipal judge for Excelsior Springs and Platte Woods.
She succeeds Donald Norris, who retired in October.
A graduate of Park University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Krauser tried 25 cases as a prosecutor and supervised an additional 28, including three death penalty cases...
|
-
I have an application on my computer and on my phone for TEDTalks, and every day, it posts another topical video that lasts typically not longer than 20 minutes. At the end of each viewing, I’m usually reminded of a link that I have with someone in the world who may find this video of interest.
What I am saying is that viewing these random videos keeps me connected to the world on a variety of topics.
Unlike YouTube, where popularity of the video brings it to the forefront, TED brings a wide variety of topics in a professional, educational and entertaining way that keeps me coming back for more...
|
-
Many companies with plentiful profits don’t pay a penny in federal taxes, and their tax-free status has been encouraged by Congress and state governments, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The firms, known as pass-throughs, have crafted a perfectly legal tax position without spending a fortune on accountants to shield profits.
StoneMor Partners (Nasdaq:STON), a publicly traded firm, is a case in point. The cemetery expects a big windfall as baby boomers age and die but will have zero federal tax liability.
|
-
Overland Park-based YRC Worldwide Inc. is auctioning off 61 sites throughout the southeast and Midwest, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW) has hired Chicago-based NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC to dispose of the properties, which include a 10-acre Yellow Freight site in Topeka valued at about $460,000.
There is a March 15 deadline for bids on the properties.
|
-
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday unveiled a broad job-creation strategy that he called his top legislative priority for 2012.
His program, Missouri Works, aims to attract automotive supplier jobs. Magna Seating of America Inc., a vehicle interiors and systems-maker in Excelsior Springs, was among Nixon’s stops to discuss the plan.
In the Kansas City area, Ford Motor Co. plans to invest $1.1 billion, including $110 million for a new stamping plant and the production of its new Transit Commercial Van...
|
-
 Kansas City Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt and General Manager Scott Pioli have named Romeo Crennel as the team’s new head coach.
Crennel previously was the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator. He became interim head coach after Todd Haley was fired in December.
“We are very excited to name Romeo the new head coach of the Chiefs,” Hunt said. “In 30 years as a coach in the National Football League, Romeo has established an outstanding track record of success, and we believe his experience and proven ability make him the best person to help us reach our goal of consistently competing for championships...
|
-
 Blue Springs is looking for a development/design team to construct a building for the University of Missouri’s expansion plans in the Missouri Innovation Park.
On Monday, the city issued a request for quotes, seeking responses by Jan. 20, for a 50,000- to 80,000-square-foot building that would hold MU’s planned Mizzou Center. Some space would support companies that would gain from working with the university at the park. The building also could hold business incubator or accelerator space by 2014...
|
-
 Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse thanked four executives for the memories, lauding them for playing “crucial roles” in the company’s turnaround, but gave them their walking papers, according to a Friday memo to employees.
The memo, sent at 11:06 a.m. Friday, laid out Hesse’s plan for streamlining the company (NYSE: S), moves aimed at boosting efficiency in the wake of hefty investments in the iPhone and in network improvements. The reorganization includes lumping Sprint’s active machine-to-machine (M2M) technology team in with its wholesale division...
|
-
 Local educational technology company Ascend Learning has acquired 70-employee Advanced Informatics in a growth play.
Advanced Informatics comes with its E*Value software, which helps schools manage evaluations, class schedules, coursework delivery, curriculum mapping and other education-related functions. The software will fit into Stilwell-based Ascend Learning’s model, which provides technology-based educational solutions for health care and other vocational industries.
The companies did not disclose the price of the deal in a release...
|
-
Lathrop & Gage LLP lawyers have scored another success in ongoing litigation related to hazardous waste from a St. Joseph tannery.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Kansas City firm’s client, Milwaukee-based chemicals supplier Elementis LTP Inc., should be dismissed from a lawsuit that is pending class certification.
In a 44-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner said Elementis did not take on a duty to provide oversight and training for certain industrial processes when it became involved with the plant...
|
-
 Not everyone is enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.
The absence of ice and snow caused Overland Park-based Compass Minerals International Inc.’s (NYSE: CMP) fourth-quarter sales to plummet, though they didn’t slip as far as they could have because of customers’ interest in stockpiling de-icing supplies.
Compass reported 16 snow events in 11 cities during the quarter — down from 50 events during the same period in 2010. During the past 10 years, there have been an average of 46.4 snow events, Compass said, citing weather data from the National Weather Service and Environment Canada...
|
-
 John Bluford III, CEO of Kansas City's Truman Medical Centers, has been named among the nation’s 40 most powerful people when it comes to efforts to shape health care.
Becker’s Hospital Review released its list last week, identifying the top health care administrators, insurers and policymakers whose voices were instrumental in shaping or implementing health care regulations and the industry’s future in 2011.
Bluford, who has led Truman since 1999, was recognized for his position as chairman of the American Hospital Association, the nation’s largest trade group representing hospitals and health care systems...
|
-
 TaxACT, the digital tax preparation provider H&R Block Inc. unsuccessfully attempted to buy, quickly has found a new suitor.
InfoSpace Inc. (Nasdaq: INSP) announced Monday that it would acquire TaxACT for $287.5 million in cash — the same amount H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) had offered.
Kansas City-based H&R Block had announced plans to acquire TaxACT in October 2010, but the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit in May 2011, receiving a permanent injunction blocking the merger on Oct. 31...
|
-
 Missouri will get more than $18 million from the federal government in connection with last year’s tornado and flooding.
On Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the financing as part of $1.58 billion given to 30 states, three territories and federal land management agencies to help foot the bill for repairs to natural disaster-damaged roads and bridges.
The money headed to Missouri includes $3.04 million for the April and May tornado and flooding, as well as $15.17 million for the June flooding of the Missouri River...
|
-
A Kansas City Council committee is expected to decide this week whether to recommend awarding tax increment financing to help bring a Federal Aviation Administration training facility to the Lyric Theatre in Downtown.
The Kansas City Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee has docketed the matter for its Wednesday meeting.
In December, the Tax Increment Financing Commission of Kansas City gave DST Realty Inc. a positive recommendation for its proposal to turn the unused Lyric into an FAA training facility, which would bring an estimated 100 jobs to Kansas City...
|
-
Wall Street workers may be on track for their lowest compensation since 2008, when the financial crisis devastated many firms, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Banks are getting ready to report fourth-quarter results and decide on bonuses for last year. The report, citing people familiar with the situation, says many of the roughly 400 Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partners may see their pay for 2011 fall to about half of what it was during the prior year.
|
-
A tech startup competition asking aspiring entrepreneurs to think big with a gig comes to a head this month with a three-day judging process and a $350,000 grand prize.
Although several startup contests are going on in Kansas City, the Gigabit Challenge — spearheaded by Think Big Partners LLC — started buzz within the local entrepreneurial community when it announced plans to recognize an early-stage business for its utilization of a coming Google Inc. broadband network’s 1 gigabit of speed...
|
-
PAS Technologies Inc. has named Tom Hutton as its new CEO.
Hutton succeeds Phil Milazzo, who will continue as president, the North Kansas City-based company announced Friday. Milazzo became president and CEO of PAS in May 2010 after the death of former CEO Robert Weiner.
“Tom is a highly respected executive in the aerospace engine (maintenance, repair and overhaul) market and has a deep understanding of PAS’ capabilities and markets,” Milazzo said in a release. “His skill sets will help accelerate our growth and development as an organization...
|
-
 A levee district in Platte County will receive a grant from Missouri to reinforce flood protection along the Missouri River.
On Friday, Gov. Jay Nixon announced plans to distribute more than $3.3 million in community development block grants to seven levee districts to help rebuild from damage experienced in the summer’s floods.
The Bean Lake Levee Association in Platte County will receive $224,000.
“Throughout the summer, levees in Northwest Missouri that protect valuable farmland, homes and communities were damaged by historic flooding,” Nixon said...
|
-
 Alaska Airlines Inc., a carrier that will come to Kansas City International Airport in 2012, has earned the top spot on a list ranking airline performance.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), KCI’s busiest airline, ranked third on the list.
The ranking was based on operational data from FlightStats.com and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The list appeared in The Wall Street Journal’s “Middle Seat” blog and analyzed data about on-time performance, baggage handling, delays, passenger bumps, canceled flights and customer complaints...
|
-
Cretcher Heartland LLC has acquired The Scotland Group, which included the interest of a former Kansas City Chiefs player.
Former principals of The Scotland Group — Tim Sinclair and Kendall Gammon — joined Cretcher as producers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the Friday announcement.
Gammon played on the Chiefs’ offensive line for seven years and is a field reporter for the team’s radio broadcasts on 101 The Fox. He moved to Cretcher’s Overland Park headquarters. Sinclair remains based in Wichita...
|
-
 The University of Missouri brings in more football revenue than the area’s other two Big 12 Conference teams, but the local schools markedly lag the nation’s top football revenue-producing schools.
According to a study by The Wall Street Journal, Mizzou generated $25.4 million in football revenue in the 2009-10 season, good for a national rank of 28th.
Kansas State University logged $23.2 million and ranked 32nd. Its Cotton Bowl opponent for Friday night, the University of Arkansas, had more than twice as much with $48...
|
-
The start of a new year is a time for law firms to count profits and hand out bonuses — as well as promotions.
Several big Kansas City firms have announced new partners at their local offices in recent days:
• Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP promoted seven: Christopher Aikin (business litigation), Mark Cowing (global product liability), John Golian (intellectual property), Scott Kaiser (global product liability), Matthew Larsen (environmental law), Harley Ratliff (pharmaceutical and medical device litigation) and Jonathan Zerger (intellectual property)...
|
-
 It could be a few months before YRC Worldwide Inc. can say how many new jobs are coming to Kansas City from a closing Ohio operation.
Jeff Rogers, president of YRC Inc., the Overland Park-based company’s (Nasdaq: YRCW) national less-than-truckload division, said in an interview Friday that officials still are trying to determine how to divide the 260 jobs affected by the sale of the former Roadway Corp. headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
YRC acquired the building as part of the 2003 merger of Yellow Corp...
|
-
 Sprint Center in Kansas City will be the first arena managed by Anschutz Entertainment Group to dump Ticketmaster and use a new platform called axs Ticketing.
Sprint Center follows non-AEG led venues in Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas that also now use axs Ticketing, pronounced “access.”
The Midland by AMC will join Sprint Center in using axs.
The system will be rolled out in Kansas City on Jan. 13 for tickets to Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker on April 6, with special guest Thompson Square...
|
-
According to preliminary numbers, 2011 saw the fewest number of traffic fatalities in Missouri in more than 60 years.
The Missouri Department of Transportation said Friday that 773 people died in traffic accidents last year, based on an estimate updated Wednesday. That’s a 6 percent decline from 821 killed in 2010 and the lowest level since the late 1940s, MoDOT said.
“Last year was the sixth consecutive year Missouri’s crash fatality rate fell,” Leanna Depue, MoDOT’s highway safety director, said in a release...
|
-
Steve Green, interim superintendent of the Kansas City, Mo., School District, lashed out at reports that the U.S. education secretary had called that district the nation’s worst, The Kansas City Star reports.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James had said that during a recent meeting, Education Secretary Arne Duncan shared a statistic that suggested the district — which lost accreditation this year — might rank at the bottom.
“I refuse to let the district be used as a platform for campaign political rhetoric,” Green told the Star...
|
-
Overland Park-based trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc. is selling the former Roadway headquarters and said as many as 100 jobs could be cut at the end of March, the Akron Beacon Journal reports.
YRC (Nasdaq: YRCW) is selling the 270,000-square-foot building, which the company assumed as part of the huge 2003 merger of competitors Yellow Corp. and Roadway Corp. to form YRC, to the developer of the Goodyear headquarters — Stuart Lichter, the report says.
On top of the job cuts, 100 more YRC employees will transfer to some of its nearby truck terminals, and 50 more will get offers to take jobs in Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa, the report says...
|
-
 Sprint Nextel Corp. has picked the first markets that will get its new 4G service: Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and San Antonio.
The markets, slated to get the service during the first half of the year, also will get improved 3G coverage, Sprint (NYSE: S) CEO Dan Hesse announced Thursday at the annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference.
The new 4G service uses LTE technology, which is different from the WiMAX technology Sprint has used since launching 4G service in 2008...
|
-
 Overland Park led big Kansas City-area cities in terms of having the shortest commutes, a new analysis finds. Among midsize local cities, Lawrence led the pack.
On Numbers, a blog affiliated with the Kansas City Business Journal, analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2009 American Community Survey to see how drivers in large and midsize cities fared on their treks to work. (Click here to read about how the area's small cities ranked.)
Among the 269 cities classified as large, Overland Park drivers registered the best commute times, ranking 55th...
|
-
 Big cities nab most attention when it comes to commute time complaints, but small ones can have headaches of their own.
In the Kansas City metro area, Raymore came out worst with a rank of 2,532 among 3,012 small towns nationwide. The largest group of commuters there (35.6 percent) spends 30 to 44 minutes on the road; 30.8 percent spend 15-29 minutes commuting; 18.3 percent spend less than 15 minutes commuting; and the rest drive for 45 minutes or longer.
The rankings — which look at U.S. communities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 — come from On Numbers, a blog affiliated with the Kansas City Business Journal...
|
-
Missouri’s tax revenues were down in December — particularly sales tax — perhaps a sign that holiday spending wasn’t as strong as anticipated.
Still, the state’s overall tax revenue remains up for the fiscal year, which started July 1.
December was good for a $652.8 million haul, 2.1 percent less than the $667.1 million Missouri brought in last year.
Sales and use tax collections fell 4 percent to $142 million in December compared with the same month of 2010.
Revenue collections for the fiscal year to date are $3...
|
-
 State Street Corp. has pledged to provide summer work and education opportunities for 1,000 youths in Kansas City, Boston, New York and other cities as part of a White House initiative announced Wednesday.
Called Summer Jobs+, the initiative is “a call to action for businesses, nonprofits and government to work together to provide pathways to employment for low-income youth in the summer of 2012,” according to a release issued by the White House.
The initiative is a collaboration between the Obama administration and the private sector to create as many as 250,000 summer employment opportunities, with at least 100,000 in paid jobs and internships...
|
-
Ferrellgas Partners LP continued its Lone Star State expansion Thursday, announcing its acquisition of Rio Grande Valley Gas Inc.
The Overland Park-based propane distributor (NYSE: FGP) picked up 2,500 customers in the Edinburg area in the southeast part of that state. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
“We expect this acquisition to be immediately accretive,” Ferrellgas CEO Steve Wambold said in a release.
This marks the company’s fifth acquisition since the Aug. 1 start of its fiscal year, as well as its third foray into Texas of late...
|
-
 Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics will open a new urgent-care clinic in Overland Park next week, replacing a service it temporarily halted in the fall to focus on treating more serious emergencies.
The clinic, Children’s Mercy Urgent Care College Boulevard, will open Jan. 9 at 5520 College Blvd., Suite 130, providing care from noon to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
It will provide routine care for such ailments as allergic reactions, minor cuts and burns, simple fractures and sprains, tummy aches and respiratory conditions, as well as lab testing for a number of conditions...
|
-
Leawood-based Kansas Venture Capital Inc. now is in the methane business.
On Wednesday, the company acquired Perennial Energy Inc. of West Plains, Mo., for an undisclosed amount, making the purchase in partnership with St. Louis-based Capital for Business and with some management of the energy company. Perennial was advised in the transaction by Overland Park-based O’Keeffe & O’Malley Inc.
“We’re buying out part of the ownership group that wants to exit the company,” Marshall Parker, president of Kansas Venture Capital Inc...
|
-
 At least nine McCormick & Schmick’s restaurants have closed, just as the chain was acquired by Landry’s Inc. So far, the two Kansas City restaurants appear safe.
On Tuesday, Houston-based Landry’s announced the completion of the $131 million deal for the chain, which is based in Portland, Ore.
McCormick & Schmick’s has two restaurants on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza: a McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant at 448 W. 47th St. and an M&S Grill at 4646 J.C. Nichols Parkway. Both local restaurants were open Thursday morning...
|
-
At least nine McCormick & Schmick’s restaurants have closed, just as the Portland-based chain was acquired by Landry’s Inc. So far, the two Kansas City restaurants appear safe.
On Tuesday, Houston-based Landry’s announced the completion of the $131 million deal.
McCormick & Schmick’s has two restaurants on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza: a McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant at 448 W. 47th St. and an M&S Grill at 4646 J.C. Nichols Parkway. Both local restaurants were open Thursday morning...
|
-
 MIQ Logistics Inc. said Thursday that it has opened a logistics center in Tannersville, Penn. — its eighth in the past 12 months.
The Overland Park-based company, which spun off of trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) in 2010, said the 70-acre property near Interstate 80 will give the company more space, along with access to markets and ports in New York and New Jersey. It mostly will focus on distribution services but also will be able to support value-added services, such as display building and kitting, the company said in a release...
|
-
The Boeing Co.’s departure from Wichita has created many questions, angered state political officials and promised an uncertain future for 2,100 workers, the Wichita Business Journal reports.
The airline manufacturer’s sprawling Wichita facility will be shuttered by the end of 2013. The decision will cost Wichita $1.5 billion in direct wages during the next decade, and the city won’t get the benefit of a $35 billion tanker contract from the U.S. Air Force.
Not surprisingly, the move has left Kansas’ political delegation up in arms...
|
-
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Kansas City Mayor Sly James during a recent meeting that data show the city’s school district may be the worst in the country, KMBZ reports.
James said the meeting left him feeling “reinforced” that his plan to take over the Kansas City, Mo., School District is the best way to go, KMBZ reports.
In early December, James proposed creating a three-person team under the mayor’s control to run the district, which has lost its accreditation.
|
-
Mediware Information Systems Inc. is expanding into the adult stem cell business with the acquisition of most of the assets of Transtem LLC.
Lenexa-based Mediware (Nasdaq: MEDW), which already sells software for health care organizations to manage their blood donations and supplies, announced the purchase Wednesday.
Financial details were not released.
St. Louis-based Transtem creates software for managing the collection and transplantation of adult stem cells for cellular therapy and medical research...
|
-
 Plans by the U.S. Postal Service to do away with next-day delivery of first-class mail could prove costly for America’s large companies.
A new report released by REL Consulting, a division of Miami-based The Hackett Group, suggests the lag time created as a result of the cuts could cost a typical large U.S. company up to $100 million a year by making it harder to quickly collect payments from customers.
Kansas City-area companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and DST Systems Inc. (NYSE: DST) have been paying close attention to USPS actions...
|
-
Vehicles produced in Kansas City by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. posted strong sales in December and for all of 2011.
Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo manufactures the Ford Escape SUV and Ford F-150 pickup.
December sales of the Escape reached 25,574, up 36.8 percent from the same month last year. For the year, Escape sales rose 33.1 percent to 254,293.
The Ford F-series — which includes the F-150 — remained the best-selling vehicle in America, with 68,278 sold in December, up 24...
|
-
Rick Hemmingsen said Wednesday that he is retiring as president and CEO of the Independence Chamber of Commerce, a position he has held for 20 years.
Vice President Teresa Freeland is the interim president. The board will form a search committee to fill the position.
Hemmingsen led the chamber during a period of robust economic expansion for the city.
He was instrumental in pushing for construction of the Little Blue Expressway, which opened up a vast area to new development. In addition, Hemmingsen played a key role in a campaign that led to the construction of the Free Enterprise Building, which now houses the chamber offices...
|
-
 Meers Advertising Inc. has tapped a new creative director, David Thornhill.
Thornhill comes to Meers from Barkley, where he was associate creative director. He previously was senior art director at Bernstein-Rein in Kansas City and at Bailey Lauerman in Lincoln, Neb.
He will handle creative development and brand strategy for Meers’ clients.
“David’s extensive agency experience serving top consumer brands will be incredibly beneficial to our clients and future plans,” said Sam Meers, the agency’s CEO, said in a release...
|
-
Business organizations from across Missouri gathered in Jefferson City on Tuesday to present lawmakers with a unified agenda that seeks reform in three areas: worker’s compensation, employment law and tort law.
The regular legislative session began Wednesday.
"This is not a wish list," Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Daniel Mehan said in a written statement. "It is imperative that the Missouri General Assembly take action on these issues. We are putting Missouri jobs and Missouri workers at risk if we don’t address these issues now...
|
-
 The Boeing Co.’s announcement that it will close its Wichita facility — which employs 2,160 — rubbed Kansas officials the wrong way, to say the least.
Quickly following the Wednesday announcement, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., pointed out that it had been just 10 months since he celebrated Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) win of a key tanker contract with company workers and state officials in Wichita.
“Today I join thousands of Kansans who are outraged by the announcement that Boeing will be closing its Wichita defense facility — leaving the future for hundreds of Kansas workers in jeopardy,” he said in a written statement...
|
-
 The Boeing Co. told employees Wednesday morning that it will close its Wichita defense plant by the end of 2013. The facility employs 2,100.
The move angered Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who said in a written statement that it had been just 10 months since he celebrated Boeing's win of a key tanker contract with company workers and state officials in Wichita.
"Today I join thousands of Kansans who are outraged by the announcement that Boeing will be closing its Wichita defense facility — leaving the future for hundreds of Kansas workers in jeopardy," he said...
|
-
The Kansas City area’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.4 percent in November, down from 7.8 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
Kansas City also was one of 351 metropolitan areas that reported lower unemployment rates compared with a year earlier. In November 2010, Kansas City’s unemployment rate was 9.1 percent.
The figures are not seasonally adjusted; the latest data is preliminary and could be revised.
November and October were the first months since December 2008 — early in the tide of the recession — to see unemployment in Kansas City drop below 8 percent...
|
-
 Both Kansas and Missouri experienced a departure of residents in 2011, with more people moving out than in — at least according to a report from moving company Atlas Van Lines Inc.
In Kansas, Atlas was involved in 1,207 moves out and 975 moves in.
In Missouri, the company helped with 1,511 moves out and 1,149 moves in.
Each January, Atlas compiles migration patterns based on data from the prior year’s interstate household moves.
Among surrounding states, Nebraska and Illinois also saw outbound shipments outpace inbound ones, while most others saw movements that were roughly balanced...
|
-
Olathe Health System Inc. has named George Dix as its new chief information officer.
The health network, with hospitals and clinics in five counties, announced the hiring Wednesday, saying Dix will assume his duties later this month.
In the release, the health system said Dix has more than 20 years of experience, most recently as CIO of Cape Fear Valley Health System in Fayetteville, N.C. He also held IT management roles for Ascension Health Information Services/Borgess Health in Kalamazoo, Mich...
|
-
LightSquared Inc. has named former Sprint executive Marc Montagner to the post of chief financial officer, Bloomberg reports.
Montagner most recently was executive vice president of strategy, development and distribution at SkyTerra Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: SKYT). Before that, he was senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), where he was responsible for deals including the purchase of Nextel Communications Inc.
LightSquared, based in Reston, Va., is seeking federal approval to launch its service...
|
-
 H&R Block Inc. has named Tom Gerke — a man known for high-profile roles with other big Kansas City-area companies — as senior vice president and general counsel, the company announced Tuesday afternoon.
Gerke most recently was general counsel for Overland Park-based trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW). Before that, he was CEO of Overland Park-based Embarq Corp., which sold to a company now known as CenturyLink.
Here's the announcement:
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) announced today it has appointed Tom Gerke as senior vice president and general counsel...
|
-
With 2012 now upon us, it’s worth looking back at the Kansas City Business Journal’s most popular online stories from 2011. Some of the results (which were based solely on how many times readers clicked on the stories) were a bit surprising.
However, the story that blew all the others out of the water was no shocker. Last year, you all were fascinated by a slide show we put together around the time the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened. It showed how Kansas City’s downtown transformed as big projects climbed up the skyline during the past decade or so...
|
-
 Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway has set its official opening date as Feb. 3, with a grand opening celebration at 11 a.m.
That date will be a telling one. We’ve been following the casino’s progress from the start — when a local vote cleared the way for the project in 2007 through economic hiccups to February 2010, when the developer got the final OK to start building, and now toward the time the doors will open to the public, a potential wild card in the local casino scene.
In October, the Kansas City Business Journal took a video tour of the $411 million casino, which will have more than 100,000 square feet of gambling space and 2,000 slot machines...
|
-
Rockhurst University Continuing Education Center Inc. signed an 11,997-square-foot lease for Shawnee industrial space last month.
The wholly owned subsidiary of Rockhurst University in Kansas City took the space at 10810 W. 78th St. in Shawnee’s Nieman Business Park.
The space will be used to store documents and other materials related to curriculum for Rockhurst University Continuing Education. Among its divisions is National Seminars, which offers seminars on professional and personal development...
|
-
 Missouri’s economy improved in December but still didn’t achieve positive growth, according to the Goss Business Conditions Index. Kansas narrowly stayed in growth mode, but the pace slowed.
The conclusions are based on an index developed by Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. The index — which ranges from zero to 100, with a reading above 50 signaling economic growth — is based on a survey of supply managers in the region and is designed to reflect new orders, production or sales, employment, inventories and delivery lead time...
|
-
 The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has named Kelly Dubbert as chief operating officer and first vice president, effective Jan. 15.
The promotion moves him into a position that bank President Esther George held before starting her current role on Oct. 1. It’s a key position — the COO and first vice president assumes the president’s duties in her absence, including participating in meetings of the Federal Open Markets Committee, which helps direct national monetary policy.
Dubbert is the ninth COO for the bank, which opened in 1914...
|
-
 H&R Block Inc. opened all of its offices Tuesday, getting an early start on tax season.
The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t accept e-filed tax returns until Jan. 17, but Kansas City-based tax preparer H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) has opened its nearly 11,000 offices nationwide to allow customers to make appointments, have previous returns reviewed or ask tax questions. Most of H&R Block’s retail tax offices are open seasonally.
“The average refund last year was about $3,000,” Phil Mazzini, president of H&R Block assisted tax services, said in a release...
|
-
 A coveted grocery store, a Swedish clothing retailer, big-name brands going discount and handbag designers were highlights of 2011 retail openings in the Kansas City area.
The big-name national tenants were scattered throughout the metro area in locations such as the Country Club Plaza, Legends Outlets Kansas City, One Nineteen and others.
The long-awaited Trader Joe’s opened to a fan frenzy and hundreds of hungry shoppers in July, simultaneously launching locations in Kansas City and Leawood...
|
-
 SKC Communications Products LLC has closed on the acquisitions of two out-of-state companies, picking up a new regional headquarters in South Carolina.
Shawnee-based SKC declined to disclose the prices and terms of the acquisitions of Boston-based Ahern Communications Corp. and Mpact Systems Inc. of Rock Hill, S.C. Both were effective Sunday, SKC announced Tuesday.
SKC said both acquisitions extend its business growth in the two regions.
Mpact’s Rock Hill office now is SKC’s Southeast regional headquarters...
|
-
 Carl Schramm, who led the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as CEO for almost a decade, has stepped down.
In a Tuesday release, the foundation said Schramm is leaving “to return to scholarship and business.” Starting Sunday, he was replaced in the interim by foundation Trustee Benno Schmidt. The search for a permanent CEO will begin this year.
“We appreciate the valuable service of Carl Schramm and his many contributions to entrepreneurship and education,” board Chairman Tom McDonnell said in the release...
|
-
|
Dads, you can make Valentine's Day special for you ...
|
-
|
Technology is constantly changing and sometimes it ...
|
-
|
Article In:Kansas City Star03/08/2010
|
|
|
|