Colorado Springs Business Journal (CO) articles from April 2006

Colorado Springs Business Journal (CO) archives from April 2006

U.S. Business and Industry Council seeking tariff on all imported goods.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine The U.S. Business and Industry Council is asking Congress to place a tariff on all imported goods to bolster the floundering domestic manufacturing sector.The group, which has 1,000 members in 44 states, says that...

Colorado Springs toll road gains momentum.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley When it first hit the transportation radar screen last year, news of the Springs Toll Road Partnership generated only a modest blip. The proposed $750 million pay-as-you-go beltway around the city was initially...

Banks brace for debt-related losses.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer A possible spike in credit card charge-offs during the second half of the year could cause profit losses for banks already battered by hurricane-related bankruptcies.But not all bankers are expecting another wave of...

Jobless rate mixed blessing for Colorado's small biz.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer The good news for Colorado's small businesses is that the state's jobless rate is down to 4.7 percent but that's also the bad news.Strong employment gains mean rising incomes and more spending at small businesses,...

Oil shortage, price spike could leave Colorado Springs in lurch.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Colorado Springs falls in the middle of cities most prepared to handle a fuel crisis that could raise the price of gasoline to $7 a gallon.SustainLane.com examined 50 major cities, looking at infrastructure and work...

Interview with Jan Peto, Wells Fargo vice president.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Staff Report Jan Peto is likely Wells Fargo's newest vice president. Peto, who is also senior business relationship manager for the bank, received word of her promotion last week.Peto has 24 years of financial services experience,...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: April 7, 2006.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer Colorado stocks appear to be performing twice as well as those from across the nation.The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 3.6 percent and the Dow Jones was up 4.1 percent through the beginning of the week. However,...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: April 7, 2006.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Health South has opened a Sports Medicine and Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at 5570 Powers Center Point, next to Dream Dinners. "For those familiar with our Chapel Hills location at the CSHP Medical Center, we now...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: April 7, 2006.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley It may be early April, but commercial real estate transactions are heating up to July or August levels. Take a look at some of the deals closed in the last few weeks.Fidelity Real Estate broker, Mike Berger,...

Colorado Springs hosts 22nd annual National Space Symposium.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer It was billed as the largest space event on earth.Thousands of business, space and technology leaders converged on Colorado Springs and The Broadmoor this week for the 22nd annual National Space Symposium.Elliot Pulham,...

Commentary: Are we getting our fair share of DoD contracts?
April 7, 2006... Byline: Lon Matejczyk Kelly Roth, a small business owner and Department of Defense contractor, ran some reports for me detailing the availability of government contracts. It seems that at any given time there could be as much as $1 billion...

Colorado Springs considering zoning changes near airport.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Lorne Kramer As readers of the Business Journal know, the area around the Colorado Springs Airport is considered one of our community's most important future employment centers. Public improvements around the airport business park...

Boots & Stars raises $60K to support tuition, leadership training at U of CO at Colorado Springs.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Diane Wengler Dressed in festive western attire, more than 100 community leaders gathered at the home of Marta Erhard and her husband Tom DeCotiis for the Boots & Stars fundraiser. The event, co-chaired by Erhard and Mary Ellen...

BBB approaching 90 million instances of service.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Better Business Bureaus in the United States and Canada provided nearly 90 million instances of service to consumers and businesses in 2005.In 2005, the BBB of Southern Colorado received...

SBA seeking input on disaster response.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The U.S. Small Business Administration has released a request for information soliciting input about how the private sector can best support the delivery of the SBA's Disaster Assistance...

Colorado Springs moving company wins franchise award.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Colorado Springs office of Two Men and a Truck has been named the top business movers among the franchise system's 173 locations.The Springs shop has been in business for 13 years and has...

Mug-A-Bug earns excellence mark.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Mug-A-Bug Inc. has received the QualityPro designation for excellence in pest management.The designation recognizes qualifications in business operations, consumer relations, environmental...

Leadership Pikes Peak offering opportunity to 'Experience the Springs'.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Leadership Pikes Peak accepting applications for its "Experience the Springs" class on April 26-27.The program provides a community snap shot and is tailored to new residents, new managers,...

Grant will help complete Fountain library construction.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Pikes Peak Library District has received a $25,000 grant from the Boettcher Foundation to help complete construction of the Fountain branch.The 10,000-square-foot library will include a...

El Pomar Foundation appoints trustees.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Marguerite Salazar and Kurt Wilson have been elected to the El Pomar Board of Trustees.Salazar occupies the regional trustee position designated for Coloradoans who reside outside El Paso...

Colorado courts 8th fairest nationwide, study says.
April 7, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Colorado's state courts are the eighth-fairest in the country according to a study released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.The ranking is based on more than 1,400 corporate attorneys'...

Colorado's immigrant health care costs elusive.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Colorado's Medicaid program will spend more than $53 million this year on acute emergency needs for non-U.S. citizens, but the exact amount that will be spent caring for illegal immigrants isn't known."We only track...

Not just a phone anymore.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine As network connections improve and the market becomes saturated, cell phones have undergone a metamorphosis: they do much more than simply make calls. They're fashion accessories, mobile offices, Internet...

Financial planners and accountants question wisdom of paying tax bill with credit card.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer More and more people are electing to settle their annual tax bills with credit cards, enticed, it seems, by the perks or convenience of paying with plastic. But not everyone agrees on the financial soundness of the...

Analysts expecting Easter spending to increase dramatically this year.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson Analysts are expecting Easter spending to increase dramatically this year, reaching a nationwide total of more than $12.6 billion.One reason is that the holiday falls later in the year, April 16 compared to March 27,...

Interview with David Twibell, director of wealth management for Colorado Capital Bank.
April 14, 2006... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report If David Twibell's name looks familiar in print, it's for good reason.Twibell is director of wealth management for Colorado Capital Bank and has established himself as a local authority on financial matters and as...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: April 14, 2006.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer All bankers know they are stars in their own right.But folks visiting downtown's First Community Bank on April 7 may have done a double take when they saw their favorite bank employees dressed as movie stars.It was part...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: April 14, 2006.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Dr. Ajit Singh, a leader in cancer research and treatment, is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. April 26 at Colorado College as part of the inaugural event in school's Visiting Innovative Minds series.Singh will discuss...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: April 14, 2004.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley Brian Burnett, chief financial officer for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, confirmed this week that any plans to consider a downtown location are still years away."As a part of Imagine Downtown...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: April 14, 2006.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson Retailers are losing their traditional television audiences to cable, their radio listeners to satellite services and newspaper readers to the Internet. So Vestcom, a company that makes price labels that adorn shelves...

Big picture sheds light on true impact of Bank of America layoffs in Colorado Springs.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer When city economic development leaders heard last week that the local economy was losing 670 jobs because Bank of America was closing its call center, it was bad news."But it wasn't terrible news," said Mike Kazmierski,...

Home remodeling enthusiasts getting just a little bit too real.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson The proliferation of television remodeling shows is creating better informed home-improvement consumers - but in some cases, the programs are fueling unrealistic expectations.The Joint Center for Housing Studies at...

Summer job prospects in Colorado Springs area look good for students.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson As Colorado Springs approaches tourist season, employers are searching through stacks of applications to fill temporary summer positions, many of which will be taken by high school and college students."About 200 is...

PPWFC unveils Tour of Services video.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Staff Report The Pikes Peak Workforce Center has launched its Tour of Services online videos.The videos give viewers a peek inside the workforce center to help job seekers understand the benefits of joining. Topics covered...

Commentary: Colorado Springs transportation a serious laughing matter.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Jon Severson Getting around in Colorado Springs has to be one of the city's biggest detractors. It's really quite pathetic for a city this size to be this dysfunctional when it comes to transportation -- whether it be the public...

Colorado Springs development and arts communities work together to create new downtown gallery.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Staff Report The Colorado Springs development and arts communities came together recently for the creation of the Fine Arts Center's new downtown gallery, restaurant and gift shop combo.Called FAC Modern, the gallery is in the...

Commentary: Imagine the waste if they weren't even organized?
April 14, 2006... Byline: Mike Boyd I'm not a very big fan of unions. Never have been, despite the fact that the majority of the folks who lived in the small Texas town where I grew up worked at chemical manufacturing plants or refineries and were...

Commentary: Community engagement reaps surprising results.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Lon Matejczyk Have any of you picked up the phone and called a person you saw in the CSBJ and asked them to lunch? I mean someone you don't know and have never talked to?Try it sometime. It is interesting what you find out. I...

Juvenile Diabetes Gala in Colorado Springs raises more than $375,000 for research.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Diane Wengler Dr. Mike Barber, who has served as board president of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for six years, was honored with the Living and Giving Award at the Sixth Annual Dream Gala: Reach... for the Cure on...

Pikes Peak Workforce Center launches its Tour of Services online videos.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Pikes Peak Workforce Center has launched its Tour of Services online videos.The videos give viewers a peek inside the workforce center to help job seekers understand the benefits of...

Colorado SBA announces Small Business Week winners.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Mai Tran and Bruce Hottman have been named Colorado's 2006 Small Business Persons of the Year.Tran is president and Hottman is vice president of Information Technology Experts in Fort...

Pueblo chamber publication receives honor.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff "Images of Pueblo" has received an award for editorial excellence in the Journal Communications annual Quality Awards competition.The publication, which is sponsored by the Greater Pueblo...

Colorado Springs-based HB&A recognized for design by U.S. Air Force.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff HB&A will receive three 2006 U.S. Air Force Design Awards later this year.The architecture and planning firm was recognized with an Honor Award for Concept Designs for the Chapel Center at...

Online document filing rates at all-time high, says CO secretary of state's office.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Online filing of business organization documents has reached an all-time high, according the secretary of state's office.Business organization documents are filed electronically 98 percent of...

U.S. Small Business Administration seeking input on disaster response.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The U.S. Small Business Administration has released a request for information soliciting input about how the private sector can best support the delivery of the SBA's Disaster Assistance...

Volunteers needed for WalkAmerica event in Colorado Springs.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The March of Dimes is seeking volunteers to help at its WalkAmerica event on April 29 at America the Beautiful Park.Two hundred volunteers are needed to perform a variety of tasks, including...

2006 Colorado Springs Press Association Media Guide available.
April 14, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The 2006 Colorado Springs Press Association Media Guide is available for purchase. The guide contains El Paso/Teller County area listings of newspapers, radio and television stations, as well...

Implant maker picks Colorado Springs.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer Bal Seal Engineering is moving its operations to Colorado Springs, and expects to hire as many as 100 workers. The company, which is based in Foothill Ranch, Calif., manufactures medical implants.Some of the jobs will...

Local tourism seeing only blue skies ahead.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley They come armed with Mapquest printouts, Web-generated historical abstracts, coupons, data for local attractions, e-confirmation numbers and a desire to examine every nook and cranny of the local cultural,...

Colorado keeping watch on Mass. health care plan.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine As Massachusetts implements its universal health insurance law, the state will be under the watchful eye of health care administrators in Colorado, where 700,000 people do not have health insurance of any kind. The...

Colorado Springs' former churches bear witness to original use.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson With the growth of churches in Colorado Springs, it's not a surprise how many businesses are staking claim to vacated houses of worship. And although they do not consider themselves "holy," many business owners are...

Value of government contracts not lost on Byron Spinney, CTO of Colo. Springs-based Periapsis Inc.
April 21, 2006... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Government contracts mean good business to small companies that provide a variety of business-to-business services.The contracts have been good to Byron Spinney and his technology support business, Periapsis,...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: April 21, 2006.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer The Internal Revenue Service has released the winter 2005-2006 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin.The SOI Bulletin includes information about on data from individual income tax returns for 2004. In 2004,...

Colorado Springs Health Care Briefs: April 21, 2006.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine A comprehensive system has been established in Colorado for reporting sick, dying or dead birds that might be carriers of avian flu or West Nile virus.Although no avian flu has been identified in any birds in the...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: April 21, 2006.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley The Associated Press reported this week that sales of existing and new homes are expected to decline during the coming months, but so far impact of the national trend on the Pikes Peak region has been minimal. The...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: April 21, 2006.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson In May 2003, Steve Bigari opened a McDonald's call center in Colorado Springs. Six of his 12 stores tested the idea of off-site order taking. Now other McDonald's franchises are beginning to latch on to the call center...

Colorado Springs Technology Briefs: April 21, 2006.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Tech workers are finding themselves in territory not seen since the peak of the dot.com era: an improving job market. "Some businesses may in fact regret some of the job cuts they made in recent years, which, in...

Van Briggle Pottery considering leaving historic location in Colorado Springs.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer Colorado Springs arts institution Van Briggle Pottery is planning to move at least part of its operation from its longtime location at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 24 and 21st Street. A change in the company's...

Downtown Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City uniquely different.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson Window shopping on Tejon Street may feel similar to that of Colorado Avenue, yet in many aspects, the urban retail areas are quite different. Paul Turner, president of Turner Commercial Research, said that Old Colorado...

Colorado Springs nonprofit center joining Pikes Peak United Way.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer A merger agreement with the Pikes Peak United Way will mean the Colorado Springs Center for Nonprofit Excellence will live to see another day.Board members from both nonprofit organizations gave a unanimous nod to the...

Colorado Springs needs volunteers for board, committee.
April 21, 2006... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report The City of Colorado Springs is seeking residents interested in serving on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Airport Advisory Commission.The parks board serves as an advisory body to the city manager...

Colorado group has long advocated universal care.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Massachusetts might have passed the first law, but a nonprofit group in Colorado has been working on universal insurance coverage for five years. The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved led a series of...

Don't forget to recognize key supporting players.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Mike Boyd Just in case you've forgotten, it usually isn't the guy or gal at the top of the ladder that really gets thing done at the office. When it comes right down to it, the people who seem to be the glue that keeps everything...

Commentary: Downtown construction cranes portend growth, vision.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Lon Matejczyk If you haven't been downtown recently, come on down and take a look at the cranes. Not the kind that fly, but the working cranes that are putting in the new Giddings lofts on what used to be a parking loft near the...

Rising gas prices could keep travelers at home.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley Terry Sullivan, executive director for Experience Colorado Springs says 2006 will surpass 2005 in visitor numbers. "Our new Web site has generated a 26 percent increase in e-mail and Internet inquiries over last year,"...

Techs team for Earth Day.
April 21, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine In 1970, more than 2 million people joined in the first Earth Day event. More than 25 years later, technology companies Agilent and Intel are teaming with two recycling companies and a group of future business...

Telecommuting still far from mainstream.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Computers, BlackBerries and personal digital assistants are making it easier for some companies to be flexible with schedules, allowing employees to work from home when necessary.While few companies in Colorado...

High-tech parking meters on tap in Baltimore.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer Proposed city parking rate hikes could mean an end to downtown shoppers being nickel and dimed by parking meters.The increases would pay for a program that would allow downtown shoppers and visitors to use a specialized...

Colorado Springs auto sales, tax revenue remain sluggish in 2006.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer City sales tax revenue numbers show the nation's tanking auto sales are taking an economic toll close to home, but dealers are pinning hopes for higher sales on reports of rising consumer confidence.During 2005, city...

Trips serve as motivation for employees.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley The Incentives Performance Center estimates that American businesses spend more than $10 billion a year on incentive travel and motivational meetings. Trips to Hawaii or a round of golf at Pebble Beach can serve as...

J.E. Dunn Construction, Kevin O'Gara riding boom in building industry.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff J.E. Dunn Construction and Kevin O'Gara have their cranes in everyone's business.A survey of the city, the state and even the Rocky Mountain region will turn up numerous projects that have...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: April 28, 2006.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Rob Larimer Taxpayers used the Internal Revenue Service Web site at record levels on April 17 - and during the days leading up to it.During the week prior to the income tax filing deadline, there were 3,385,936 visits to IRS.gov....

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: April 28, 2006.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine The Penrose Cancer Center participated in one of the largest breast cancer prevention trials conducted in the United States.The study showed that raloxifene, used to prevent and treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: April 28, 2006.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Becky Hurley Matterhorn Investment Group LLC, a San Diego-based consortium, has purchased the Old Alamo Hotel Building on South Tejon Street for $5.7 million. Matterhorn was one of seven finalists, including three local and four...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: April 28, 2006.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Joan Johnson Competition is brutal for smaller retail grocers. Yet as grocery sales approach more than $800 billion a year, many of these companies are growing at an explosive rate.Wal-Mart, the nation's largest food retailer,...

Crisis of the uninsured highlighted during "Cover the Uninsured Week".
April 28, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Health care costs represent 15 percent of the national gross domestic product and are projected to rise to 19 percent by 2009. "Right now, the way the system is funded, we're just rearranging chairs on the Titanic,"...

Colorado's worker training money not being fully utilized.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Amy Gillentine Every year, Pikes Peak Community College returns hundreds of thousands of dollars to the state - money that local companies could be using to train employees. "It's free money," said Jaki Taggert, director of work...

Goodwill honors shining starsGoodwill Industries of Colorado Springs honored supportive businesses and individuals at its annual dinner.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Staff Report Goodwill honors shining starsGoodwill Industries of Colorado Springs honored supportive businesses and individuals at its annual dinner.The following companies received business awards: Ecumenical Social Ministries, El...

Dual celebration of Peter Max exhibition and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's 70th anniversary.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Diane Wengler Peter Max returned to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center for the Cosmic Ball, a dual celebration of the Peter Max exhibition and the Fine Arts Center's 70th anniversary. It was a weekend-long celebration which...

Commentary: Fort Carson, Army have master campaign plan.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Lon Matejczyk What a great time to be living in the Springs. Sure, we have some issues but I think the opportunities outweigh the negatives.I had the opportunity to attend Fort Carson's off-site retreat in Denver. This was a...

Colorado Springs seeking TOPS volunteers.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is seeking volunteers to serve on its TOPS Working Committee. The committee meets bimonthly and determines spending priorities for the...

The Office of Advocacy saves small business $6.6 billion.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Office of Advocacy saved small business more than $6.6 billion during Fiscal Year 2005 by helping federal agencies implement the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The effort resulted in rules...

Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs honors businesses, individuals.
April 28, 2006... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs honored supportive businesses and individuals at its annual dinner.The following companies received business awards: Ecumenical Social Ministries, El...