Publisher jumps ship for Star newspapers - Dallas Business Journal:

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Bick, who founded Inside Collin County Businessdin 1994, has stepped away from the biweeklyt business paper to join Star Community Newspaperes as its Collin County publisher. He also will serve as executivew editor of the North Texasnewspaped group, which includes 14 weekly papers, two dailty newspapers and six niche publications with a combine weekly circulation in North Texas of "Star newspapers have a great positioj in North Texas, and I think the upside potentialp is vast," Bick said. Bick joins Star Communitt Newspapers at a time when itsparent , is on the brink of transition.
Gene Carr, CEO of Americann Community Newspapers, says the Addison-basee newspaper company is set to become partof CRB), a media holding company. In January, Courtside announcecd an agreement to acquireAmerican Community, whicjh owns 73 publications in suburbs near Dallas-Fortr Worth, Minnesota and the Washington, area. The $165 million transaction is expected to closre in the second quarterof 2007. Carr said he believex that the new ownership will help furtherd drive the growth of StarCommunity Newspapers. Once the deal is done, Carr will becomw CEO and chairman of the boardof Courtside. "It will enable us to grow the compan faster than wehave been," Carr said.
America Community's recent acquisitions include theMcKinney Courier-Gazette and the McKinnety Penny Saver. Carr did not say whether Inside Collin Countyy Business would be anacquisition target. "We are very anxious to continue our growthg pattern and love theDallas market," Carr "We plan to continue to grow both througy startups and acquisitions." Asked whether he plans to sell Inside Collin County Business, Bick declined to He says the business paper is "doing well" and its performancre was not a factor in his decision to He declined to disclose the business paper'e financial figures, saying only that it is The paper reaches approximately 10,000 businesses.
"The papet can be run by the people whoare there," Bick "It gave me the confidence to come in and do something else." Andy Hardin, who became publisher of the publicatiomn more than a year ago, is overseeingg the paper. Bick's wife, Angie Bick, has been promoteed to executivevice president. In his new role as publisher at StarCommunith Newspapers, Bick will oversee nine Nortuh Texas publications, including Allen American, , McKinnet Courier-Gazette, Plano Star Courier and Plano Insider. The newspaped chain focuses on coveringlocal government, sportzs and social events.
In addition to the Collin County papers, Bick will be in chargw of Internet and new mediw sales for allStar newspapers. He said he doesn'tf believe his new job and the newspapert he owns pose a conflicr when going afterpotential advertisers. "I don'gt see it as a big conflic of interest," Bick said. "Very seldom do we struggle over the same Carr agrees, and says it hasn'tt been an issue with advertisers so far. "Whilew there are some common advertisers between Inside Collin County Business andour papers, we vastly differ," he said. "We offer daily and weeklty publications that are extremely local in the communities whicnthey serve.
" Bick was the ideal choice to guid e the community papers, Carr added, "with his deep roots withi Collin County, his knowledge of the business communith and his experience with business Before founding his own business Bick served as publisher of the Dallas Businesse Journal and assisted its parent company, , in the launch of sevenm business publications.

Opus West says it owes $1.46 billion - Sacramento Business Journal:

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and some of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions late Monday for reorganization underChaptee 11. Chapter 11 generally removew the threat of lawsuits from creditors whilwe a business seeks to rehabilitate itself and continue Opus West and its affiliates reportedaboutt $1.28 billion in total assets and $1.4 billion in total liabilities, according to bankruptcuy court filings. The corporation and its affiliates had combined revenue of about $405 million in 2008. The parent company lists 200 to 999 according tobankruptcy filings. Opus West Corp. owns about 20 real estatde development properties either directly or through entities set up to hold the the courtfilings say.
The totalk debt on those properties isabout $414 millionb and the value of the properties is about $403 In addition to Opus West the subsidiaries that have filed Chaptet 11 petitions are Opus West Constructioh Corp., Opus West LP, Opus West Partnere Inc. and O.W. Commercial Inc. Opus West has guaranteed about $1.1t5 billion in loans for its subsidiaries and joint and most of thos e loans arein default, the courty filings say. Opus West has developed severaol large office and retail projectss in the Sacramento region in the past few In Natomas, the company built two office buildings in the Gateway Corporate Centetr and a retail development near Truxeol Boulevard.
Its portfolio also includes the Corporat e Centerin Roseville, Broadstons Plaza in Folsom and Rocklih Corporate Plaza. Steep declinese in commercial real estatre values and difficult credit markett conditions necessitated the saidJohn Greer, chiedf restructuring officer of Opus West. Greer said Opus West will keepa "modestf presence" in Phoenix, Texaws and California to work on assett dispositions and transitions.
"While we began slowing the pace of new developmentf nearly two years ago in anticipationb of difficultmarket conditions, we must now take additional measure to enable an orderly wind-dowhn of our portfolio, protect asset valuesx and maximize return on lenders' investment," Greer said in a prepared statement. Opus West and its subsidiariese have suffered declining financia l performancesince 2008, resulting in defaults on certain credit lines and constrained liquidity, according to an affidavity filed by Greer, managing member of , which is the chiegf restructuring officer of Opus West Corp. Greer is also presidentr of the OpusWest Construction, Opus West Partnerw and O.W.
Commercial subsidiaries. Opus has focuser on recapitalizing through project sales and but has been unable to do so because of poormarkegt conditions, Greer's affidavit says. Sincre 1979, Opus West and its affiliates have developedr more than 52 million squarwe feetof office, industrial, retail, government and institutional projects, the affidavity says. The company's assets include interestxs in commercial and residential real estate projects across Arizonaand Texas, including condominium, office, apartment and retail projects in various stages of development, the affidavit says.
Opus' troubles stem from the globaleconomifc downturn, deterioration of the real estate market and the creditt crunch, which has made it difficult for borrowers to get financingt to fund real estater projects or refinance existing projects, Greer's affidavit The turmoil has scared buyers, leadinfg to excess supply and lowet prices. The dramatic downturn has caused Opus to be out of compliance with terms of variousa loans and unable torestructure them, and attempts to raisd capital and sell assets have proven difficult, bringing about the Chaptere 11 filing, Greer's affidavit says. Opus' challengex vary considerably by region, said Mark chairman and CEO ofOpus Corp.
"Opus West facexd particularly dramatic drops in real estatr values in markets such as Californizand Arizona, and has been particularlh challenged by the sharp downturn in the capital markets and availability of refinancing," he Rauenhorst said that two other independent operating companies of Opus Group -- and Opus Northwestf LLC -- have been less affected by the economic and capitalp market conditions because of their mix of projecgt types and their location in stronger markets. , whicuh is based in Minn., is a design-build development firm that specializeein office, industrial, retail, multifamily, government and institutional projects.
It also controlsa Washington-based LLC, which files for Chapter 7 liquidation in late Opus Group saidits subsidiary, which is based in Atlanta, filed for reorganization in bankruptcty court on April 22.

Hugo Weaving Doesn't Want To Play Red Skull Again In Any More Marvel Movies - Indie Wire (blog)

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Cinema Blend

Hugo Weaving Doesn't Want To Play Red Skull Again In Any More Marvel Movies Indie Wire (blog) You might have heard a minor geek uproar over the interwebs yesterday. It seems someone has dared to say that if they had a choice, they'd prefer not to feature in any more Marvel movies. And that man is Hugo Weaving. Chatting with Collider, the actor ...< /p> Hugo Weaving Hints At The Future Of Red Skull, But He Might Not Play Him Again Cinema Blend Hugo Weaving Doesn't Want to Return as Red Skull in 'Captain America 2' AceShowbiz Hugo Weaving Not Interested In Returning As The Red Skull In Future Marvel ... Geeks of Doom Escapist Magazine -/FILM (blog) -Comic Book Resources  »

Youth advocate, Amanda Todd's mother call for provincewide effort to end ... - Vancouver Sun

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Youth advocate, Amanda Todd's mother call for provincewide effort to end ... Vancouver Sun Youth advocate Diane Sowden says a provincial strategy is needed to end the online sexual exploitation of children and the type of bullying that led Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd to take her own life. Sowden was joined in her call for a ... and more »

SBA emergency bridge loans off to slow start - Washington Business Journal: Washington Bureau

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The SBA had expected high demanc forthe loans, which were created by the economixc stimulus legislation to help struggling smalkl businesses make payments on existing debt. Througb this program, small businesses can borroww upto $35,000 to make up to six months of paymentw on qualifying loans. Borrowers won't have to startr repaying the ARC loans until a year after they receive their last ARC loan The loansare interest-free to the borrower. Instead, the SBA will pay the lendere a monthly interest rate of prime plus 2percentage points. The SBA also will guarantees 100 percent ofthe loan's The SBA began accepting applications for these loans June 15.
As of June 22, the agenc y had approved 72 loanstotaling $2.4 million submitted by 42 lenders. Small businesses in 21 statea receivedthese loans. The agency expecte the volume of ARC loansx to pick up in coming The agency has conducted training sessions on the loanswith 3,00 lenders from 1,300 financial institutions. "Based on the participationj in theinformation sessions, we are encouraged and feel we in fact, continue to see a rise in participation by lenders and the numbef of loan approvals," said SBA Press Secretart Hayley Matz. Many SBA lenders, remain on the sidelines.
The Colemajn Report, which tracks SBA lending, found that 60 percent of the lenders who respondexd to its survey saidthey don't plan to make ARC Some lenders said they wouldn'y make enough money off the loans to justifyy the trouble, and others said the SBA's guidelinesa for the loans were too To be eligible for the small businesses must show they were profitable or had positiv cash flow in at least one of the past two Future cash flow projectionss must demonstrate that the businessesd will be able to repayh their debts, including the ARC loan. The National Association of Governmen t Guaranteed Lenders has submitted four pages of questionw to the SBA aboutthe program.
"Our members have many questionxs aboutthe program, and that is probably why the volumw is less than anticipated," said NAGGL President Tony Meanwhile, lending through the SBA's regular business loan programs remainsx far below last year's levels. Throug h June 19, the SBA had approved half as many 7(a) loanas this fiscal year as it did during the same periodx ayear ago. The total dollar value of 7(a) loansz was down 38 percent. Lending through the 504 program, whicg finances real estate and otherfixedr assets, was down 42 percent, both in numbet of loans and in SBA's fiscal year began Oct. 1.
Lending through both programas picked up afterMarch 16, when the SBA eliminated or reducef fees on its loans and raised its guarantewe on 7(a) loans to 90 These steps were called for in the the economif stimulus legislation.

Wichita architecture firms cut jobs as clients pull back - Wichita Business Journal:

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Companies describe the cuts as minor, spurreed by a tough fourtu quarterlast year, and say receny business activity has shown signs of a But they remain wary in 2009, where markegt instability has kept some projectsz from even reaching the drawing board. “We’vd positioned ourselves to where we’r staffed correctly for the workload we’ve got,” says Dennis Smith, managing principal for , whichb sliced six of its 104 employees inlate “We continue to look at it twice a Law/Kingdon, Wichita’s largest design firm, was hit particularlyh hard by a slowdown in retail work. The companyh has a specialty inmall projects.
“No the retail world went as deadas I’vee seen it in 35 years,” Smith says. Othed firms report gloomy times. has laid off And cut staff in its Kansas City laid off two nonlicensed staff members a couplse ofweeks ago. Principal Jeff Van Sicklee says the first quarter remained strong but was helpef by work that held overfrom 2008. “We’ve manage d to pick up some new work over the last three or four but the projects are not as large as we are particularly used to,” he says. “We think starting now throughu the end of the year is one we will have to managrvery carefully.
We are cautiously optimistic but don’t expect the same kind of year as we had last Van Sickle’s firm has watched as one of its largest industrial clients — — slows down its work durinfg the recession. And the company’s restaurant work — one of its clientw is , owner of several fast-foode chains — is “still steady but not quitse the same pace asit was,” Van Sickle “Honestly, what we are missing this year is that flagshilp job. That’s really the differences for us,” he says.
In yeara past, the company designed the Cessna CitationServicee Center, the Koch Arena Arena and, last year, Cessna’s new finap assembly facility for its Columbusx business jet. Van Sickle says he’s nevef been busier chasing business leads. They just don’t resulgt in large projects forthe company’s books. “It’s kind of that double-digit kind of job that’s goint to be hard to come by this VanSickle says. “I liken it to rocks and We have a lot of rock but not a lot of bouldersrightf now.” Smith says Law/Kingdon watched last year as its backlogb of jobs began to slip.
And this the company saw one of itslarger clients, mall owned General Growth, go bankrupt. Another larg client, , has slowed its But Smith says very few projects stopped altogether. Law/Kingdon had been working a renovationm projectin Chattanooga, Tenn., that was shut down in December. But the ownefr still intends to followthrough eventually. “It’s not like it’s gone forever. It’s on the front of the shelf,” Smitb says. On the brighter side, Smith says hotel work has begun moving and health careremains strong. The company also has an activd accountwith , which continues to renovates its stores nationally. Smith notef government work also continues.

United Church Builders to buy Randall Park Mall - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Randall Park, in the Cuyahoga County village ofNorthy Randall, was one of the largest mallsw in the country when it opened in 1976. But it suffereds from competition from other mallxs andlifestyle centers, and over the its 200 stores dwindled to a few dozeb and most of its anchors left, includiny (NYSE: M), which announced in Decembedr that it was pulling out. Cincinnati United Contractora (CUC) Vice President Ken Geis said the Unitex Church Builders will consider options forthe site, includingt a church or other redevelopment according to the blog report. The mall'sx owner, of Raleigh, N.C., had planned to close Randall Park this but has agreed to keepit open.
Two anchors, and , will remaij open, along with a theater and severalothert stores. United Church Builders was formed by CUC in Aprik 2007 as a subsidiary focused on churchconstruction