Archive for the “Business” Category

Next time you think about stopping at Starbucks, think again.

Kim Richards, co-owner of Higher Grounds which is based here in Fort Wayne was diagnosed with an invasive and aggressive form of breast cancer. She’s had two surgeries and is currently getting chemotherapy.

Many people have asked how how they are doing. Since Kim and John have been the heartbeat of Higher Grounds for so many years and consider their loyal customers to be extended family, they invite you to join them on Kim’s journey to back to wellness.

Kim has been journaling on a website since she first heard the word “cancer”. It will take you through her thoughts and emotions as a wife, a mother of two beautiful daughters, Macy and Morgan, and as a human being with real concerns and real fears. To visit her site, please click on : www.caringbridge.org/visit/kimrichards

There is a guestbook where you can leave encouraging messages to Kim or you can send cards to the corporate office and they will be delivered to her. The address here is 158 E Collins Rd, Fort Wayne IN 46825.

The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Event on Saturday, October 4 was a huge success. Team Higher Grounds raised over $2400! Thank you for your support!

On behalf of the Richards’ family, we’d like to thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, kind words and deeds. We are holding on to the hope that Kim will beat this!

You can support Kim by purchasing and wearing a “Brewing for a Cure” T-shirt. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to cancer research. Prices will be $12 for S, M, L, XL and $14 for XXL. They will be available for purchase at many Higher Grounds locations. Help us help Kim beat cancer!

Click here for a map of locations.

AWB

Further decline

Dow -311.10
-3.12%
9,644.40

Nasdaq -72.78
-3.91%
1,790.18

S&P -39.02-3.69%
1,017.87

California judge rules early cell phone termination fees illegal

In one of the most significant legal rulings in the tech industry this year, a Superior Court judge in California has ruled that the practice of charging consumers a fee for ending their cell phone contract early is illegal and violates state law.

The preliminary, tentative judgment orders Sprint Nextel to pay customers $18.2 million in reimbursements and, more importantly, orders Sprint to stop trying to collect another $54.7 million from California customers (some 2 million customers total) who have canceled their contracts but refused or failed to pay the termination fee.

While an appeal is inevitable, the ruling could have massive fallout throughout the industry. Without the threat of levying early termination fees, the cellular carriers lose the power that’s enabled them to lock customers into contracts for multiple years at a time. And while those contracts can be heinously long, they also let the carriers offer cell phone hardware at reduced (subsidized) prices. AT&T’s two-year contract is the only reason the iPhone 3G costs $199. If subsidies vanish, what happens to hardware lock-in? Could an era of expensive, but unlocked, hardware be just around the corner? It’s highly probable.

I’ve always had an issue with the way cell phone providers “trap” you into an agreement. If a better deal comes along, you should be able to take advantage of that, without recourse. What the hell do they have to lose besides a customer? The same goes for cable and dish providers. If they want to keep you, offer a competitive plan.

As far as locked-phones go, let them them keep it up. The competition will take care of that. Besides, contrary to this article they’re not subsidies. Do you know what it cost to make an I-Phone?

From GizModo.com, and this was in 2007.

So you thought the iPhone’s insanely high price tag is due to all the fancy technology inside? Not so, my friend. That touchscreen that everyone is popping tents over only costs $33.50, with the touchscreen controller adding a mere $1.15 to the price. In fact, Apple stands to make a healthy 50% profit on both versions of the iPhone sold, with the costs of the 4- and 8-gig models only running $245.83 and $280.83, respectively.

All I can say is “Verizon, can you hear me now?”

AWB

Home Depot, once the darling of the home improvement “big boxes” is closing its store on Coliseum Blvd. A liquidation sale is slated to start tomorrow Saturday.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Retailer Home Depot Inc (HD.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which has been battered by the slumping housing market, said on Thursday it plans to close 15 underperforming U.S. stores and will curb future store openings, sending its shares up 2 percent.

The home improvement industry leader said it expects a charge of about $586 million tied to the moves, with about $547 million pretax to be recognized in its first quarter. Excluding this charge, the company reiterated that per-share profit is still expected to fall as much as 24 percent for the year.

Many retailers are curbing store growth and cutting capital spending as recession worries and higher prices for gasoline and food lead consumers to pull back spending.

[...]

The 15 store closures will affect 1,300 workers, many of whom will be offered posts at other stores. The stores to be closed are in Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Vermont.

I believe that Fort Wayne has 7 big box stores. Makes one wonder how the Menard’s in SE Fort Wayne is doing.

Hat tip: Bitchen Ric

AWB

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

Everything the Greens touch may be turning red. Blood red. Like the Pharaoh Ramesses of old, Congress is bringing plague after plague upon itself. And mankind.

In the past, the Greens have opposed more nuclear energy, more oil exploration, more gasoline refineries, more natural gas exploration – in short, more energy production.  They have placed what they perceive as the Mother Earth’s climatic interests above mankind’s economic interests.  And this has resulted in considerably higher energy costs in the past two decades.

Now they’ve turned their malevolent gaze towards agriculture.  As food prices have rocketed – going up 83 percent in three years according to the World Bank – a global food crisis has emerged, threatening the stability of more than 33 nations and worldwide starvation.  (See ALG News’ “Biofuels and Inflation Driving Up Food Prices Worldwide”.)

The jury’s no longer out – it is in, and the proponents of biofuels are to blame.  Billed as an alternative to fossil fuels, biofuels are nothing short of an unmitigated catastrophe as Congress has mandated their usage and is subsidizing their production to the peril of the developing world, and our own food supplies.  And yet, the callous, perilous cadre of the obtuse and uneducable Green Machine continue demanding “Food for Oil” – even as the death toll mounts.  In short, the insanity continues unabated. 

This artificial creation of demand has led to supply disruptions of not just corn, but also other agricultural staples like wheat and rice.  And this in turn has caused the prices for food to go through the roof.  Food riots are occurring all over the world, and it has even led to the government of Haiti collapsing.  It was called a “crime against humanity” by UN expert Jean Ziegler in 2007.

Thus far, there have been calls from free market advocates to bring an end to the Federal mandate and subsidies.  For Ziegler’s part, he believes that a five-year moratorium on biofuel production worldwide should occur to halt “the growing catastrophe of the massacre [by] hunger in the world.”

These developments globally have to be source of no uncertain embarrassment for the White House, which was pushing hard for biofuels.  ALG News shall be charitable in this case.  Anyone can make a mistake.  But to not admit that mistake despite the real and devastating consequences is when the breach becomes insidious. 

This failed policy has brought a terrible plague upon the world, and it is up to the Federal government to reverse course and cease doing the same thing over and over again – when the same results are ever more Oprhans of the Corn.

Source: Americans for Limited Government

AWB

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Chinese-Americans rallied outside CNN’s Hollywood office on Saturday to demand the firing of commentator Jack Cafferty for calling China’s goods “junk” and its leaders a “bunch of goons and thugs.”

“We understand free speech,” Lake Wang, 39, told the Los Angeles Times. “But what if Cafferty said this about other racial groups? I think he would be fired. I think he’s jealous of China.”

What, get fired for saying the truth? There’s nothing racist about it.

Speaking about the U.S. trade deficit with China, Cafferty said: “We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we’re buying from Wal-Mart.”

“So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed,” he continued. “I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

AWB.

My secretary took this picture tonight at the Wal-Mart at Apple Glen Crossing. Note the cigarette butt canister next to the propane station. What if one of those tanks was leaking?

Fetch, does this violate any regulations that you know of?

Boom! – AWB

Hat tip – Chick with a Glock.

From the News Sentinel

Three local manufacturers that supply products to handbag and accessories company Vera Bradley Designs will start laying off employees in May.

Phoenix Sewing, 9823 Indianapolis Road; Summit Production Systems, 1530 Progress Road; and Mercury Manufacturing, Marciel Drive; will close and lay off a combined 537 people. Phoenix will lay off 190, Summit 200 and Mercury 147.

Monica Edwards, senior director of marketing for Vera Bradley, said Thursday night that the layoffs are linked to Vera Bradley’s decision to consolidate all of its domestic production in-house by early 2009 in the interest of quality control.

The layoffs are expected to be complete by September.

What the article fails to inform us is Vera Bradley will now be hiring 500 employees.

AWB

South Whitley, Ind. — Modular building manufacturer Whitley Manufacturing, Inc. announced today that it will expand its South Whitley manufacturing operations, with additional job creation beginning immediately.

“We continue to see growth throughout our business, which confirms our customers’ belief in the quality of our products and reflects the capabilities of our dedicated workforce,” said Simon Dragan, President.

Established in 1945 to build homes for returning World War II veterans, Whitley Manufacturing, Inc has grown to have a regional and now a national presence as an industry leader in modular building construction.

“Whitley Manufacturing has been a steady, stable employer in South Whitley,” said Tonya Porter, Town Council President, “we are excited that the company has chosen to grow in our community.”

This expansion will create forty new jobs at the company’s flagship South Whitley facility, ten to twenty-five new jobs at its Rochester plant, and twenty-five new jobs at its Marysville, Washington plant.

Investments in machinery and equipment will also position the company to grow its business across all product lines, which now include classroom, dormitory, medical, and office facilities.

The Whitley County EDC is working with local and regional partners to support Whitley Manufacturing’s expansion plans.

About Whitley Manufacturing

Founded in 1945, Whitley Manufacturing, Inc. builds modular commercial structures for a variety of applications, including, schools, offices, dormitory and medical facilities. The company operates out of its headquarters located in South Whitley, Indiana and also operates facilities, in Rochester, Indiana and Marysville, Washington. For more information about Whitley Manufacturing, Inc., please visit www.whitleymanufacturing.com.

About Whitley County EDC

The Whitley County Economic Development Corporation is a not-for-profit corporation originated to assist business development needs. The EDC partners closely with local, regional, and state agencies to create a strong link for industry needs. For more information about the EDC, please visit: www.whitleybiz.com.