Business North Carolina articles from June 2008

Business North Carolina archives from June 2008

Please write.(UPFRONT)
June 1, 2008... Recently, I've been fortunate enough to sit in on our editorial department's weekly meeting. That might not seem such a big deal, but keep in mind that most of the 18 years I've spent in print media have been in sales--the Dark Side, reporters...

Tap the ocean.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... I enjoyed your article on the water situation (Capital Goods, April). With rising sea levels coming with global warming, it seems to make sense that we figure out how to get ocean water to the Piedmont. I am sure desalination plants and...

Off course.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA continues to be one of my favorite reads, and the issue (April) with the golf course rankings is always greatly appreciated. As a Hickory resident and state economic developer for the Charlotte Region, I do have one...

Nctrend.(Statistical table)
June 1, 2008... NCTREND EMPLOYMENT Latest Previous Previous % change from month month year last year Employed (000s) 4,306.2 4,325.9 4,306.3 (0.0) Civilian...

Stockwatch.(Statistical table)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HIGHEST PRICE/EARNINGS RATIOS company P/E ratio (3) 4/25/08 price 52-week range Fozen 88.5 $13.27 $8.29-19.75 FairPoint 58.3 9.32 ...

Economicoutlook.(Interview)
June 1, 2008... "The North Carolina automobile-insurance system is--no holds barred--the very worst in the country," says Eli Lehrer, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that touts free markets and limited...

The bases are loaded by military transfers.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... Imagine a city the population of Greenville--about 75,000--springing up in Eastern North Carolina in the next three years. That's what military buildups in the region will amount to, and while one expert calls base expansions "the biggest...

Politician pitches a site for OLF that is all wet.(Eastern)(Outlying Landing Field)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight has asked legislative staff to study whether a practice landing field for Navy carrier pilots could be built off the coast rather than in Camden or Gates county, both of which oppose having it. Foes...

Wilmington.
June 1, 2008... WILMINGTON -- GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas plans to add 900 jobs during the next five years, bringing employment to about 3,150. The average annual salary of the new jobs will be about $85,000, more than double the New Hanover County...

Kinston.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... KINSTON -- Sanderson Farms will open a $126.5 million processing plant, feed mill and hatchery in late 2009. It will employ about 1,500 within a year. The Laurel, Miss.-based company is the nation's fourth-largest poultry processor.

Faison.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... FAISON -- Fibrowatt plans to build a plant that would burn poul- try waste to produce electricity. If approved by the state, it would employ about 100. The Langhorne, Pa.-based company hopes to begin production in 2011.

Laurinburg.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... LAURINBURG -- Eaton will close its golf-grip factory by the end of the year, idling more than 75. About 35 sales and marketing jobs will remain. The Cleveland-based industrial conglomerate is moving production overseas.

Beaufort.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... BEAUFORT -- Nelson and Dianna Paul of Raleigh won state approval to build three large wind turbines, but they still need permission from Carteret County and the Federal Aviation Administration. They plan to sell electricity to Raleigh-based...

Wilmington.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... WILMINGTON -- New Hanover County commissioners offered $4.2 million in incentives for a cement factory that could bring 160 jobs. Norfolk, Va.-based Titan America hadn't made a decision in early May.

Camden.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... CAMDEN -- Camden and Currituck counties each will spend $125,000 for public relations and other services to block the Navy from studying a tract in Camden County for a practice landing field. The Navy also wants to study a site in Gates County...

Emerald Isle.(Eastern)
June 1, 2008... EMERALD ISLE -- Sandbags protecting five houses on the west side can stay in place two more years, says the state Coastal Resources Commission. Most sandbags along the coast must be removed this year. For a daily roundup of business news in...

Big three get a wake up call.(Triangle)(Triangle universities )
June 1, 2008... Ask a random sample of North Carolina residents what is the state's main research hub, and most would probably say the Triangle. With three major universities and Research Triangle Park, one of the nation's oldest corporate research campuses,...

Raleigh.(Triangle)(James O. McLamb of The Castleton Group charged with conspiracy )(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... RALEIGH -- James O. McLamb, 41, former chief financial officer of The Castleton Group, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. The company, now in bankruptcy, provided payroll and other human-resources services to...

Siler City.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... SILER CITY -- Town officials say an Atlanta investment group wants to buy the chicken-processing plant that Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride plans to close this month. If IIG Management buys the plant, it wants to keep the 836 employees....

Sanford.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... SANFORD -- Wyeth laid off 66 workers as part of a companywide effort to reduce costs. The Madison, N.J.-based drug maker still employs more than 1,300 here making the children's vaccine Prevnar.

Cary.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... CARY -- ABB plans to open its third Triangle office in July. The Zurich-based energy conglomerate will consolidate U.S. accounting services and add 80 jobs here. That will bring its total in Cary and Raleigh to more than 500.

Morrisville.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... MORRISVILLE -- Charles & Colvard, which makes moissanite gems that resemble diamonds, cut 10 jobs because of lagging sales. It lost about $698,000 in the first quarter, compared with net income of about $339,000 the year before.

Durham.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... DURHAM -- Inspire Pharmaceuticals stopped development of a nasal spray for allergies after it failed a late-stage clinical test. Earlier this year, Inspire stopped work on an allergy pill after it hit regulatory roadblocks.

Cary.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... CARY -- ABRY Partners paid $140 million for Hosted Solutions, which operates data centers that host Web sites for other companies. The Boston-based private-equity firm likely will add to Hosted Solutions' 50 employees in the Triangle.

Morrisville.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... MORRISVILLE -- Harald J. Braun, 52, replaced Guy Campbell as CEO of Harris Stratex Networks, a wireless-telecommunications company. Braun was a senior executive for Finnish telecom supplier Nokia Siemens Networks. Campbell, 62, is retiring this...

Durham.(Triangle)(Duke University. Hospital (Durham, North Carolina))(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... DURHAM--Duke University Medical Center received $50 million from the Duke Endowment. About $35 million will be spent on a School of Medicine Education Center, which will include space for team-based learning. The rest will be used to add as...

Durham.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... DURHAM -- Argos Therapeutics raised $35.2 million from investors led by TVM Capital of Boston. It has received $87.4 million in venture capital since it was founded in 1998. The company is developing treatments for cancer and immune-system...

Research Triangle park.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Tryton Medical, which is developing a new kind of stent to correct blockages in small blood vessels, plans to move here from Boston. It has only four employees but hopes to triple that by the end of the year.

Durham.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... DURHAM -- Aldagen, which uses stem-cell research to develop medical treatments, raised $18.4 million from investors led by Birmingham, Ala.-based Harbert Venture Partners. It has raised $46.6 million since it was started in 2000. Among its...

Raleigh.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... RALEIGH -- Martin Marietta Materials, which mines rock for construction, paid competitor Vulcan Materials $192 million for six quarries in Georgia and Tennessee. Birmingham, Ala.-based Vulcan had to shed assets after buying Florida Rock...

Sanford.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... SANFORD -- Stock Building Supply plans to open a factory this summer that will employ about 40 making roof trusses. The company, part of British building-materials supplier Wolseley, is consolidating work from plants it is closing in...

Durham.(Triangle)
June 1, 2008... DURHAM -- ArtusLabs raised $2.6 million from investors led by Hatteras Venture Partners of Durham and Southern Capitol Ventures of Raleigh. ArtusLabs, which develops software for drug and biotechnology companies, has nine employees. For a...

Loss of hub is no snub to PTI.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... Despite his experience with Skybus Airlines, Henry Isaacson is not down on discount carriers. The chairman of Piedmont Triad International Airport says Skybus, which shut down less than three months after opening a hub at the Greensboro...

RF Micro chips off local jobs.(Triad)(RF Micro Devices Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... RF Micro Devices has entered new territory in its hometown. The Greensboro-based company, which makes cell-phone parts, has steadily added workers since it began operations in 1991. That changed in mid-April, when it announced it was...

High point.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... HIGH POINT -- Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna will add 300 employees by the end of the year, giving it more than 1,000 here. It recently won a contract to provide health insurance to employees of Charlotte-based Bank of America.

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- Hatteras Financial, a mortgage real-estate investment trust, raised $276 million in its initial public offering. Hatteras, which began operations in November, will use the proceeds to buy government-guaranteed hybrid and...

High point.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... HIGH POINT -- Attendance at the High Point Market spring show was 82,095--down by about 3,600 from a year ago and 1,879 from the fall market. Officials blamed the drop partly on contraction in the industry.

Greensboro.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- Robert Lowe, 65, will retire June 30 as CEO of NewBridge Bancorp, the parent of New Bridge Bank. No successor was named. Pressley Ridgill, 55, is president of the holding company and CEO of the bank.

Greensboro.(Triad)(RF Micro Devices Inc.'s Bill J. Pratt and Jerry Neal)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- Two of RF Micro Device's three founders retired. Bill J. Pratt, 65, was corporate vice president of strategic operations. The company, started in 1991, makes chips that boost cell-phone power and netted $83.4 million in fiscal...

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- Steve Reinemund, 60, will begin July 1 as dean of the undergraduate and graduate business schools at Wake Forest University. The former PepsiCo CEO and chairman is the first person to head both schools. Ajay Patel, dean of the...

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- Apparel maker Hanesbrands sold a factory and a distribution center in North Carolina to Woodland, Calif.-based Tower Investments. Terms were not disclosed. Hanesbrands plans to lease the distribution center in Scotland County....

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- The Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center won a five-year, $42.5 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department. It will study regenerative treatment for lost limbs or severe...

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- Mandalay Baseball Properties will manage the Winston-Salem Warthogs' operations when the team begins play next year in a new downtown stadium. Los Angeles-based Mandalay owns or operates six other minor-league teams. Terms...

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- Reynolds American expanded the test markets for Camel Snus smokeless tobacco from eight cities to 17. New markets include Los Angeles and New York. It introduced the product in Raleigh and seven other cities in 2006.

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... WINSTON-SALEM -- The N.C. School of the Arts wants to change its name to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. The proposal cleared the UNC Board of Governors in early May and headed to the General Assembly. Supporters say the...

Greensboro.(Triad)
June 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- Guilford Technical Community College asked to be part of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering being developed by UNC Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University. Neither university had responded. The school is...

A river runs--for its life--through it.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... It's not always good to be No. 1. In April, the waterway that courses through the center of the Charlotte region was at the top of America's Most Endangered Rivers, compiled by American Rivers, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group. The...

Hickory.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... HICKORY -- A subsidiary of San Francisco-based retailer Williams-Sonoma plans to open a $2.7 million factory and distribution center. Sutter Street Manufacturing employs about 50 here and will add 820 workers in the next five years. The factory...

Charlotte.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- IBM plans to add 600 jobs during the next four years in a division that supports mortgage lenders. That will increase the Armonk, N.Y.-based computer giant's employment here to about 2,350. Pay for the new jobs will average $59,000...

Kannapolis.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... KANNAPOLIS -- Pharmaceutical Product Development will open an office at the North Carolina Research Campus and hire up to 300 workers within three years. Wilmington-based PPD helps drug, biotech and medical-device companies shepherd products...

Charlotte.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Wachovia agreed to pay as much as $144 million to end a federal investigation into allegations that the bank failed to question suspicious transactions and allowed telemarketers to use its accounts to steal millions of dollars. It...

Concord.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CONCORD -- Speedway Motorsports named the drag strip under construction near Lowe's Motor Speedway the zMax Dragway@ Concord--after a brand of engine lubricant it makes. The $60 million strip should be ready in September.

Charlotte.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- UNC Charlotte hired Joseph Mazzola, 56, a professor at Georgetown University's business school, as dean of its Belk College of Business. He replaced Claude Lilly, 62, who left a year ago to become dean of Clemson University's...

Newton.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... NEWTON -- General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies won a $109 million contract to make satellite-communications radios for the Army. It employs about 240 locally and is part of Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor General Dynamics.

Cornelius.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CORNELIUS -- The town approved plans for The Village at Lake Norman, 2.4 million square feet of restaurants, offices, shops, homes and hotels. Construction will last six to 12 years, says developer Cornelius Bromont. It's a partnership of...

Maiden.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... MAIDEN -- Duluth, Ga.-based Delta Apparel laid off 62 workers. It still employs about 290 here making fabric for T-shirts.

Charlotte.(Charlotte)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Speed Channel paid $7 million for a one-story building that it will convert into a high-tech broadcast center and headquarters. It hopes to move in by January and plans to add about 35 employees, giving it about 115. The...

Charlotte.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- SportsOneSource moved its headquarters here from West Palm Beach, Fla. It produces trade publications for the sporting-goods industry and plans to double employment here to 30 by the end of the year.

Mooresville.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... MOORESVILLE -- Michael Cowling replaced Paul Smith as CEO of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center. Cowling was former CEO at Lancaster Regional Medical Center and Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania. Smith, 45, left for a...

Charlotte.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Moore & Van Allen added nine lawyers to its office here, giving it more than 230. The firm has more than 300 lawyers and other offices in Research Triangle Park and Charleston, S.C.

Salisbury.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2008... SALISBURY -- Performance Fibers plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs at factories here and in Moncure to reduce costs. The Richmond, Va.-based fabric maker couldn't say when the layoffs will happen. It employs more than 950 here and in...

Monroe.(Charlotte)(American Wick Drain )(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... MONROE -- City and Union County officials offered American Wick Drain more than $100,000 in incentives for a $4 million factory expansion. It employs about 50 making products that improve drainage. No deal had been reached by early May. ...

Tourism effort aims at distant relatives.(Western)
June 1, 2008... Since 2005, you could have had the Land of the Sky "Any Way You Like It." Now there's "Appalachia Comin' Atcha." It's branding season in the Blue Ridge, and the latest slogan-setter is a $20,000 video targeting visitors with a familial...

Valdese.(Western)
June 1, 2008... VALDESE -- Norwalk Furniture will close its Hickory Hill Furniture factory by August, idling about 165. It plans to move production to Norwalk, Ohio--its hometown--Fulton, Miss., and Livingston, Tenn.

Clyde.(Western)
June 1, 2008... CLYDE -- Federal regulators say Haywood Regional Medical Center's board is ill-prepared to supervise the 900-employee hospital. Board members have agreed to attend special training by October. The hospital lost Medicare and Medicaid...

Lenoir.(Western)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... LENOIR -- Google won't seek $2 million in incentives for 2008 from the city and Caldwell County. It's building a data center here in return for rebates of 80% on realestate property taxes and 100% on business property taxes for 30 years. The...

Morganton.(Western)
June 1, 2008... MORGANTON -- Grace Hospital avoided losing about $7 million a month in federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements by addressing investigators' concerns about medical, patient-rights and other records.

Granite Falls.(Western)
June 1, 2008... GRANITE FALLS -- Charlotte lawyer James Preston, 70, replaced Charles Snipes as chairman of Bank of Granite. Preston, a director since 2003, was chairman of Charlotte-based First Commerce before Bank of Granite bought it. Snipes, 74, retired as...

Oliver Smithies.(Research)
June 1, 2008... The call came early in the morning--4:45, to be exact--but for Oliver Smithies, it wasn't a minute too soon. For years, colleagues had told the UNC professor he was up for the Nobel Prize in medicine for his groundbreaking research in genetics,...

Stan Eskridge & Tom Fischer.(Research)
June 1, 2008... When Stan Eskridge wanted to help Tom Fischer make an intexpensive bandage that quickly stops bleeding, he turned to his connections. "You can't be a North Carolina native and not know somebody in the textile industry," Eskridge, 65, says. His...

Frank M. Torti.(Research)
June 1, 2008... In May, Torti, 60, departed Winston Salem and his job as director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center for the Washington, D.C., suburbs to take up a new position at the FDA. An experienced...

Spotlight on: Martin Posey; Marine biologist, UNC Wilmington.(Research)
June 1, 2008... They're great raw, steamed, fried, baked in casseroles or simmered in stews, but North Carolina oysters have a huge value beyond commercial fishing. Each mollusk can filter pollutants from up to 50 gallons of water a day, and they grow in...

Green without envy.(FINEPRINT)
June 1, 2008... I'm not above the occasional indulgence in cheap wordplay, and I'll prove it with this bit of advice: If you want to make big piles of green money, go brown. "Green," of course, is shorthand for any activity rooted in environmental improvement....

Stoplioght up ahead.(CAPTIALGOODS)(Editorial)
June 1, 2008... Each day, tractor-trailers unload goods at warehouses or stores in and around Charlotte. For many, the stop marks a brief foray into North Carolina. They've come from Charleston, S.C., or Savannah, Ga., or distribution centers set up along...

Avoiding 'accidental' employer obligations.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... Contingent workers--contractors, freelancers and "temps"--have become increasingly common in the work force. The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in February 2005 that contingent and other alternative-arrangement...

Keeping secrets secret: confidentiality in a sale.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... In selling a business, maintaining confidentiality of company information and transaction details is critical. Trade secrets and other sensitive information can be among a company's most valuable assets, and release of that information at the...

Know the limitations of your liability coverage.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... Sadly, litigation is so prevalent that no businessman should be without liability insurance. The corporate status of a company does not shield him from claims alleging his bad acts or omissions. He will need defense counsel, which liability...

Job-candidate selection and the internet.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, nearly 27% of employers check profiles of job candidates on social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Other employers use Google to search for online...

Tillman case could undermine arbitration.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... North Carolina has a strong tradition of encouraging pretrial resolution of civil disputes. For more than 20 years, it has been at the forefront of a national movemcnt to offer effective, satisfactory dispute-resolution alternatives. They now...

Construction law shifts with techniques.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... Construction has grown more sophisticated in recent years, as material science, building practices and technology combine to produce better buildings. For better or worse, construction contracting has kept pace with this trend. While this...

Protecting your business in divorce.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... When spouses own a business, breaking up is even harder to do. North Carolina law requires that assets acquired during a marriage be valued so that the marital estate can be fairly distributed to the divorcing spouses. Frequently, only one of...

Foreign investment can trigger reviews.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... Domestic mergers, acquisitions and investment are widely expected to slow this year. Due in part to the credit crisis in the U.S financial markets, many North Carolina companies looking for investment, business expansion or exit opportunities...

New FMLA rules answer and create questions.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Family Medical Leave Act, which provides job protection, in the form of up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, to eligible employees related to the employee's own serious health condition; the...

DWI arrest calls for early work by counsel.(LAW JOURNAL 2008)
June 1, 2008... "Sorry, boss, I can't drive today. I got a DWI." Even for the most level-headed manager, that bad news can cripple an otherwise profitable, efficient operation. Difficult questions come to mind: Do 1 need to fire my best producer? What about...