Crain's Cleveland Business articles from January 2004

Crain's Cleveland Business archives from January 2004

Big deal.(Opinion)
January 5, 2004... It may be premature to declare Jim Paxson NBA general manager of the year, but the trade that sent mercurial Ricky Davis packing and brought lunch-bucket veterans Eric Williams and Tony Battie to the Cleveland Cavaliers has done wonders for the...

CWRU prof pulls in grant dollars; Cash to benefit nutrition dept.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SUSAN BRACHNA Dr. Henri Brunengraber, professor and chair of the department of nutrition at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, is helping his department get a taste of big grant dollars. FDr. Brunengraber,...

Tax Liens.(News)
January 5, 2004... The Internal Revenue Service filed tax liens against the following businesses in the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office. The IRS files a tax lien to protect the interests of the federal government. The lien is a public notice to creditors that...

Grant to help University of Akron nanoscale research.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SCOTT SUTTELL A University of Akron engineering professor will explore the use of magnets to assemble nanoscale devices with the help of a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Igor Tsukerman, an...

Biz contest deadline nearing.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SHASTA CLARK Case Western Reserve University is encouraging entrepreneurs to submit an executive summary by Feb. 5 to be included in the 2004 Case Business Launch Competition. The competition will award a total of $100,000 to...

B-W goes global with MBA program.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: KIMBERLY BONVISSUTO Peter Rea thinks of life in a global context. On any given morning, Dr. Rea said, most people wake up with a Japanese radio. They dress in clothes from around the world. They eat a breakfast made with wheat...

Attitude essential to Team NEO boss.
January 5, 2004... Byline: JAY MILLER "We need to walk taller,'' says Robert Farley, setting a tone for the regional economic development umbrella organization - Team Northeast Ohio - he is creating. "A lot of this is attitude,'' he said. The...

Startup's deal door into health industry.(Technology)
January 5, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN Mentor startup eTeklogics Inc. has signed a two-year marketing deal with a New Jersey medical instrument repair firm that will resell the local company's software and bar code labeling equipment to health care...

Investment vet starts new firm; Barone's Ancora offers four funds.(Finance)
January 5, 2004... Byline: RYAN CORNELL The man who helped build Maxus Investment Group Inc. in the mid-1970s and later sold the company and its mutual fund portfolio to Fifth Third Bancorp in early 2001 is back in the mutual fund business. Richard...

REI ventures beyond research.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: CHRIS THOMPSON CrainTech.com Ed Morrison is ready to get things done, not do more studies. The new executive director of REI@Weatherhead wants to transform the research organization into one of the architects of the...

Late News.
January 5, 2004... BARNES WENDLING RACES TO NORWALK Cleveland accounting firm Barnes Wendling CPAs has acquired the 10-person Jenkins, Hakes & Associates Inc. in Norwalk. The deal, which closed last Friday, Jan. 2, gives Barnes Wendling its third office and...

Wireless network holds great possibilites.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: LEV GONICK, RON COPFER Back in 1879, Charles Francis Brush put Cleveland on the lighting map when he demonstrated the arc lamp. The first permanent street lighting in America was installed in that same year after the demonstration...

BFL to tout marketing muscle created by shared office space.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: HENRY GOMEZ With offices at The Powerhouse in The Flats, BFL Marketing Communications Inc. president and CEO Dennis Pavan is looking to turn a collection of tiny marketing firms into a powerhouse of its own. BFL, founded in...

Ursuline finds global partner.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SCOTT SUTTELL Ursuline College in Pepper Pike is reaching out to an education partner halfway around the world. Sister Diana Stano, president of Ursuline, and Devan Barker, director of curriculum for the Ursuline College...

Trucking biz Panther II on the move.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD Trucking company Panther II Transportation Inc. plans to head south to Seville in Medina County from Medina Township to find room to grow. Panther has signed a 10-year lease for 30,000 square feet of a...

New year.(Opinion)
January 5, 2004... We'll refrain from passing judgment on whether the start of the new year is happy, crummy or somewhere in between for our readers. But while only the passage of time will determine what 2004 holds in store, we have reason to be optimistic that...

Former FedEx building will be put to new use.(Real Estate)
January 5, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD Maple Street Partners Ltd., a real estate investment partnership led by principals of the Manufacturers Wholesale Lumber Co. of Maple Heights, plans to convert the former Federal Express depot at 734 Alpha Drive in...

Oberlin program to foster business careers.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: HARRIET TRAMER Oberlin College's liberal arts curriculum long has enjoyed a national reputation for turning out graduates who excel either as academics or as social activists. But business leaders? Not so much, even though many...

Elder care provider files for Chapter 11.(Finance)
January 5, 2004... Byline: RYAN CORNELL A Shaker Heights nursing home and assisted living community has succumbed to financial pressures and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. Somerset Point LP, which has about 100 residents...

Bankruptcies.
January 5, 2004... The following businesses recently have filed for protection from creditors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cleveland. Under Chapter 11, a company files a reorganization plan that must be approved by the court. Chapter 7 is a total liquidation....

Changes in works at Jewish Comm. Center; Plans include equipment, programs.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND Like Madonna and Britney Spears, The Jewish Community Center of Cleveland knows that to maintain interest, it must reinvent itself - but for the JCC, it won't take bare midriffs or body piercings. The Beachwood...

Short Takes.(Briefs)
January 5, 2004... * LAST FEW MONTHS: Cleveland State University next July will dissolve First College, a 31-year-old program designed to provide a liberal arts education in a small-college setting within CSU. The program has less than 200 students, and its...

Study's aim to solve region's economic issues.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: SCOTT SUTTELL Kent State University's Center for Public Administration and Public Policy has waded into one of the region's favorite parlor games of late: diagnosing Northeast Ohio's economic development woes and offering...

What's his beef? The media herd.(Opinion)
January 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Dodosh Those of you who dislike the media will love this column, because one of its own is about to bash his field. The proliferation of news outlets has created what I'll call "alarmist journalism.'' Hungry to produce...

Penske terminating truck terminal; Company cites canceled Kraftmaid contract.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: DAVID PRIZINSKY Penske Logistics LLC has notified the state that it will close its trucking terminal in the Geauga County community of Middlefield next March and will furlough the operation's 95 employees. The company's...

New phone company will offer one-number service.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN Chagrin Falls entrepreneur Eric Leonetti wants to help people organize their multiple telephone numbers, e-mail accounts, fax and other communication services with a single phone number. Mr. Leonetti last month...

Retail space finds takers.
January 5, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD Sing no post-holiday blues for owners of Northeast Ohio retail properties as a group this year, regardless of what kind of note the critical Christmas shopping season ended on. Shopping center owners start 2004 on...

Solon's RSP ready to roll; Mo. firm buys innovative tooling system.
January 5, 2004... Byline: DAVID PRIZINSKY RSP Tooling LLC in Solon has turned a corner after nearly two years of fine-tuning its toolmaking technology, and next summer expects to begin to impact the U.S. tool and die industry. In June, RSP will deliver...

Steel sector foresees better times this year.(News)
January 5, 2004... Byline: DAVID PRIZINSKY An improving manufacturing sector will mean better times next year for the domestic steel industry, despite the recent decision by President Bush to remove tariffs of as much as 30% on various foreign steel...

Letters.
January 5, 2004... Grand offer (Editor's note: The following letter is in response to the Dec. 8 editorial, "Get it right,'' which noted how Grand Rapids, Mich., had managed to build a new convention center while Cleveland has not.) I have had the...

Datebook.(Calendar)
January 5, 2004... Week of Jan. 10-16 Tuesday Downtown Housing, National Perspective: Housing Forum Speaker Series. Sponsored by ULI Cleveland and the Downtown Cleveland Partnership. US Bank Building Amphitheater, 1350 Euclid Ave., lower level....

Going Places.(People)
January 5, 2004... Job Changes Architecture HENGST STREFF BAJKO ARCHITECTS INC.: Peter J. Kamis to associate. MCKENNA ASSOCIATES INC.: Robert S. Kagler to vice president. RONALD KLUCHIN ARCHITECTS INC.: Kerre A. Ovens to designer/project...

CSU prof's work earns accolades, funds.(Special Report)
January 5, 2004... Byline: KIMBERLY BONVISSUTO Dr. Bahman Ghorashi knows a lot about business. His business research has earned him more than $1.5 million in grant funding, and he has published, co-authored or co-edited more than 70 papers and books...

PR grads facing stiff competition for jobs.(Marketing)
January 5, 2004... Byline: HENRY GOMEZ Brian Edelstein found a cold job market waiting for him when he graduated college three years ago. Unable to secure a full-time job in public relations, the John Carroll University communications alumnus spent two...

Service jobs' overseas outsourcing here to stay.(News)
January 12, 2004... If the 1990s was the decade where a great deal of traditional American manufacturing went overseas, this decade might be remembered as a time when the white-collar service industry felt the full heat of globalization. We are just at the...

Workplace violence costly, growing problem.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: EILEEN BEAL Workplace murders committed by employees disgruntled with supervisors or depressed about events at home get the headlines and make the evening news, but they make up a small fraction of the violent episodes that...

Akron Gen. sells division to NextMed.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: SHASTA CLARK CrainTech.com Akron General Medical Center's decision to contract out business functions that might distract the hospital from its top priority of patient care has opened a door of opportunity for NextMed Systems...

Univ. Circle triumvirate on right path.(News)
January 12, 2004... Reverberations continue to shake the ground at several University Circle institutions, and the effects have great potential to reshape this city and the entire region. Case Western Reserve University president Ed Hundert continued his...

McDonald adds practice groups, office.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: RYAN CORNELL Cleveland law firm McDonald Hopkins Co. LPA is branching out in Ohio with the opening later this month of a Columbus office to house its new multistate tax and governmental practice groups. To lead the new practice...

Group to host MEMS symposium in fall.(News)
January 12, 2004... The tiny world of MEMS is rapidly moving from the research lab to the factory floor and to highlight that transformation Cleveland will host a symposium next September that will address the business case for MEMS products. The Ohio MEMS...

Defense of DFAS begins; Officials kick off effort to save military pay.
January 12, 2004... Byline: JAY MILLER The Cleveland business community is mobilizing the troops to save 1,500 defense-related jobs. The jobs are with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, a part of the Department of Defense that processes payroll...

Westfield plans area mall expansions.
January 12, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD Westfield America Trust wants to put its own stamp on the big shopping malls in Strongsville and North Olmsted that it bought two years ago. Australia-based Westfield America, which operates its malls under the...

Grand Openings.(News)
January 12, 2004... Big Guys Pizza 2539 W. 10th St. Cleveland 44113 The pizza parlor in the Tremont neighborhood offers both thick and New York-style pizza as well as subs, pasta, wings and fries. 216-436-8888 Managed Business Solutions ...

Late News.
January 12, 2004... PORT SEEKS ROLE IN REMAKING FLATS The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority is in preliminary talks with developer Scott Wolstein about financing public improvements such as parking garages and streets for a re-do of Old River Road,...

Equity firm buys Hunter.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: SCOTT SUTTELL Hunter Defense Technologies Inc., a Solon company that makes air filtration and heating products for the U.S. military, has found a new owner to fuel growth. Behrman Capital, a private equity firm based in New...

Exec perks can work for the books, too.(News)
January 12, 2004... The personal use of company-owned assets can be a great fringe benefit for executives and employees of a business. Typical examples of this include an employee's use of a company-owned airplane or vacation home. For years, the Internal...

Short takes.(News)
January 12, 2004... * TRIA RISES IN DETROIT: The Tria Group, a 1-year-old provider of offshore software development services in Garfield Heights, has opened a sales office in Detroit to build the company's client base in southeastern Michigan. The company has...

Decision strengthens employee rep rights.(News)
January 12, 2004... Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 confirmed the National Labor Relations Board's extension of representational rights to employees during investigatory interviews that could lead to discipline (NLRB v. Weingarten), a dispute has existed as...

Datebook.(Calendar)
January 12, 2004... Week of Jan. 17-23 Tuesday Downtown Housing, Local Perspective: Housing Forum Speaker Series. Sponsored by ULI Cleveland and the Downtown Cleveland Partnership. U.S. Bank Building Amphitheater, 1350 Euclid Ave., lower level. 7:30-9:30...

Going Places.(People)
January 12, 2004... Job Changes Financial Services GREAT LAKES FINANCIAL GROUP: Jeff Ross to chief financial officer; Carol Conteen to controller. Legal BENESCH, FRIEDLANDER, COPLAN & ARONOFF LLP: Mark R. Lekan to associate. BUDISH &...

Port joins in to help finance frozen food maker expansion.(News)
January 12, 2004... The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority is joining with the Ohio Department of Development and the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in a $20 million package of loans to finance the $21 million expansion of a downstate frozen foods...

Letters.
January 12, 2004... Lessons learned Mad cow no trivial matter Editor: Mark Dodosh's description of the media in his Jan. 5 Commentary, "What's his beef? The media herd,'' is an honest observation. Emotion, hype, the bizarre and the...

Opinion.
January 12, 2004... Worth the wait We hope news reports out of Japan are accurate and that the island nation will extradite a researcher who is alleged to have stolen DNA samples and other proprietary genetic material from the Cleveland Clinic. A signal needs...

Free clinics struggle to meet rapidly growing patient load.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND On some evenings, it's standing room only in the lobby of The Free Clinic of Greater Cleveland. Executive director Gail Bromley expects the crowd to grow even larger this year. As people continue to lose their...

Local scientist plays part in Red rover.
January 12, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN It has been an electrifying few days for Joseph C. Kolecki. Mr. Kolecki, an electrical engineer at NASA Glenn Research Center, is among about 200 scientists throughout the National Aeronautics and Space...

Last of area's Cross Country hotels sell for bargain prices.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD The Cross Country Inn name likely will disappear from Greater Cleveland following the sale of the economy lodging chain's Middleburg Heights and Medina hotels to a Columbus investor group that plans to sell them yet...

Machining Corp. seeks way out of Ch. 11.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: RYAN CORNELL Barberton truck and railcar parts manufacturer Machining Corp. of America has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors as a pair of brothers attempts to transfer ownership of the business to one...

Clinic looks to Florida, Las Vegas.(News)
January 12, 2004... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND The Cleveland Clinic Foundation is looking toward additional out-of-state expansion after buying 40 acres in Lee County, Florida, near Fort Myers, for $12.5 million and agreeing to finance half of a $686,000...

Call for gov't overhaul gains volume.
January 19, 2004... Byline: JAY MILLER Talk of streamlining government in Northeast Ohio is erupting almost spontaneously, highlighting a growing frustration over the lack of a focused economic development strategy in the region. For example, Michael...

Clinic spinoff finds $6M startup cash.(Technology)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN PrognostiX, a Cleveland Clinic spinoff with technology to diagnose cardiovascular disease and asthma, has received a $6 million investment from an Arkansas pharmaceutical company. PrognostiX will use the financing...

Hellman hangs on to helm; Advanced Lighting CEO stays through Ch. 11 - again.(Wayne R. Hellman is a survivor)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN Wayne R. Hellman considers himself a visionary. He's also a survivor. His company, Advanced Lighting Technologies Inc. of Solon, a maker of metal halide lighting products, on Dec. 10 emerged from Chapter 11...

Bankruptcies.
January 19, 2004... The following businesses recently have filed for protection from creditors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts in Cleveland and Akron. Under Chapter 11, a company files a reorganization plan that must be approved by the court. Chapter 7 is a total...

Options exist to value employee stock options.(Finance)
January 19, 2004... Byline: TODD PATRICK, BRENT SHOCKLEY Eight years after the Financial Accounting Standards Board first proposed that companies treat employee stock options as expenses when reporting earnings, it has finally decided that that is their only...

TRW investment unit meets with its end under Northrop.(Finance)
January 19, 2004... Byline: ARLEEN JACOBIUS Crain News Service Northrop Grumman Corp. appears to have axed TRW Inc.'s investment management unit in advance of merging TRW's retirement plans with its own in 2005. TRW Investment Management had run about...

Short Takes.(Briefs)
January 19, 2004... * PLANTING NEW ROOTS: Akron investment advisory firm Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC has sprouted a new office in Columbus. Sequoia president Tom Haught said the office at 375 N. Front St. opened Jan. 5 with one employee. The firm now has 15...

Tri-C teaching lean techniques.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND Cuyahoga Community College next month will launch what it's calling the Lean Institute to teach local business leaders how to trim the fat from operations. The six-day courses will be held through Tri-C's...

Burg's civic heart will be missed.(Opinion)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Brian Tucker Peter Burg, the FirstEnergy chief executive who tragically died last week just three weeks after his leukemia had been discovered, leaves a legacy that, sadly, not all corporate leaders earn. The 57-year-old career...

Parma developer's portfolio grows in Brooklyn Heights.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD An industrial real estate developer from Parma that primarily builds for its own account has broken stride to snap up a vacant Brooklyn Heights industrial building as an investment. A limited liability corporation...

Tax law changes bode well for independent contractors.(Finance)
January 19, 2004... Byline: BARBARA PAYNE Independent contractors and those who employ their services might be in for a few surprises on their tax returns this year. A newly powerful bonus depreciation clause offers potentially big benefits to independent...

Upgrade boosts St. John ER; $10M expansion opens in Feb. with double the number of beds.(Health Care)
January 19, 2004... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND What you see is what you get in St. John West Shore Hospital's emergency room - too many patients and too little space. Starting next month, there will be more to see and more space for patients to be seen when...

Roundtable glad to be at players' table.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JAY MILLER Danny Williams and the Greater Cleveland Roundtable chose to be included. When the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and Cleveland Tomorrow began talks to merge last year, they decided to go a step further and...

Hello, AuGrid? Are you there?(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN Here's to you, AuGrid Corp. I hardly had a chance to know you and now you're leaving Cleveland for the warmer climate of Houston. I'm disappointed. I had hoped to meet president and CEO Muhammad J. Shaheed, chief...

Coupon distributor prepares to amp up advertising efforts.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: HENRY GOMEZ Its staff has grown 30% in each of the last three years, yet Mentor's Sales Building Systems Inc. has kept a relatively low profile in Northeast Ohio's marketing mix. Overlooked in a deluge of full-service agencies...

Tax Liens.(News)
January 19, 2004... The Internal Revenue Service filed tax liens against the following businesses in the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office. The IRS files a tax lien to protect the interests of the federal government. The lien is a public notice to creditors that...

Cardinal adds advisers to board.(Finance)(CardinalCommerce Corp. has added Gary Heatherington and Andreas Drimiotis to the board)(Brief Article)
January 19, 2004... CardinalCommerce Corp. of Mentor, a developer of technology that verifies the identity of online shoppers, has added two advisers to its board. Gary Heatherington, the former president and CEO of Bank One International and former CEO of...

Auto mirrors next frontier for liquid crystal biz.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: SHASTA CLARK CrainTech.com Bahman Taheri is a car enthusiast, but he couldn't have imagined until last month how important car accessories would become to his liquid crystal display company. Dr. Taheri's company, AlphaMicron...

BP Tower on the block.
January 19, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD BP Tower, the vacancy-battered trophy building on Cleveland's Public Square, will be offered for sale by Equity Office Properties Trust, the nation's largest publicly traded real estate investment trust. Real...

Kucinich fails to draw dollars from home; Local contributions are under 2% of congressman's campaign chest.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JAY MILLER While it should come as no surprise that the Northeast Ohio business community has not supported U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich in his effort to become president, the broader local community is similarly absent from the...

Industrial Collinwood seeing some extra care.(News)(from Barbara Mullally, industrial specialist)
January 19, 2004... Byline: STAN BULLARD Thomas Byrne, president of Basic Aluminum Casting Co., said when he recently spotted a city snowplow on the road outside his aluminum die casting plant at 1325 E. 168th St., he nearly had a heart attack. That's because...

Cleveland's Continental board voice cut in half.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: HENRY GOMEZ Cleveland soon will lose one of its two representatives on Continental Airlines' board, but the departing director said his exit shouldn't affect the airline's hub operation at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport....

Suit targets two cellular providers as competition killers.(News)
January 19, 2004... Byline: JEFF STACKLIN A Cleveland law firm has sued Verizon Communications and Cingular Wireless, the nation's two largest cellular telecommunications providers, which it claims stifled competition and therefore cheated consumers out of...

Late News.
January 19, 2004... PENSKE LOGISTICS CUTS 29 JOBS Penske Logistics LLC has laid off 29 employees at its Beachwood support services center, adding to a growing list of job losses that company officials blame on canceled contracts and cost-cautious customers....

CrainTech event set for next week.(Finance)
January 19, 2004... Mary Ann Francis, senior vice president of corporate banking business solutions at National City Corp., will speak at a CrainTech breakfast next week about how specific technology investments have allowed the banking giant to better meet the...

Set for battle.(Opinion)
January 19, 2004... Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld seems determined to bring the size of the operations that support the armed services into line with the smaller size of the forces that make up today's military. In light of Mr. Rumsfeld's objective, civic...