Business First-Columbus articles from April 2000

Business First-Columbus archives from April 2000

Children's drops Total HMO.
April 7, 2000... When pact ends, firm won't have county hospital in its Medicaid HMO network Total Health Care Plan Inc., reeling from deepening losses and declining membership, will be dealt another blow April 30 when Children's Hospital of Columbus pulls...

ADC cuts deal with Web tech specialist.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Two privately held homegrown companies have struck a deal that will allow each to become more adept at serving different segments of the Internet economy. ADC Information Technologies Inc. plans to disclose April 7 that it's acquiring the...

Is Ohio tax policy primed for change?(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... A variety of converging complex events likely will lead to dramatic changes in the way taxes are determined in Ohio, a former state tax commissioner is cautioning corporate Ohio. The next General Assembly -- largely being elected this year...

Partners picking Hudson St. for hotel.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Two Columbus development groups have formed a venture to build a 64-room Holiday Inn Express on Hudson Street just east of Interstate 71. Dublin-based hotel developer Castrop Wolfe Development Ltd. will join landowner JAS Group Ltd. to...

Ohio entrepreneurs, unite: You've got your own site.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Entrepreneurs and the people who fund them soon will have a place to meet online. OhioAngels.com, a Web site designed to help improve the flow of private investment in Ohio, is in the final testing stages ahead of its planned debut during...

Radio waves.
April 7, 2000... Columbus-based Quantum Marketing Group, which specializes in generating so-called nontraditional revenue for radio stations, need look no further than its Cincinnati parent for business opportunities. In January Blue Chip President Ross...

$300 test for free.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Vascular surgeon Dr. Jean Starr is looking for a few good patients. Starr was trained last fall on how to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms with a less invasive procedure. Instead of cutting through the breast bone, the new procedure...

Nationwide sets incentives to retain Gartmore execs.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Nationwide is making sure its $1.6 billion investment in overseas asset management will continue to pay off for years with incentives for management to stay and produce. The Columbus-based financial services giant March 30 outbid other...

Cardinal signals it is time to raise philanthropic role.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Cardinal Health Inc., the largest publicly traded company based in Central Ohio, has named its first full-time community affairs coordinator. Beth Catlett, a former marketing coordinator at Retail Planning Associates in Columbus, said she...

State mulls starting HMO to help cover its workers.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... As a measure to curb rising health care costs, the state of Ohio is considering creating a health maintenance organization to cover its workers. The state awarded a $241,770 contract to Columbus-based consultant Watson Wyatt and Co. to...

Columbia Gas set to move 44 jobs from Toledo to area by end of July.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Columbia Gas of Ohio has told the 44 employees at its call center in Toledo that their jobs are being moved to the company's customer service operation on Dublin Road, near Marble Cliff. In February, Business First reported Columbia...

Cable TV providers set schedule for Crew games.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Time Warner Communications and Insight Communications say they will air coverage of eight Columbus Crew away games through their Sport TV partnership. Sport TV was created by the cable providers in 1998. The channel shares time with...

OSU-SonicRim accord gives partners technologies, skills.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Ohio State University's College of the Arts and SonicRim Ltd. have agreed to a three-year partnership as part of a new university initiative -- the Research Partners Program. The program intends to be a portal for businesses to access the...

Under just 2nd president, Sarcom plots its next steps.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... For about 17 years, since he founded Sarcom Inc., Randy Wilcox was the information technology company's only president. That changed last November, when he handed the reins of the Columbus company's day-to-day operations to Jeffrey H. Sopp. ...

Art museum, CCAD sketch effort toward 'cultural hub'.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Expansion of the Columbus Museum of Art may be a few years away, but the institution and other Discovery District neighbors hope building a master plan for their area can create a "cultural hub" six blocks east of Capitol Square. ...

With tax credits as a draw, 5/3 revs home lending plan.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Wayne Koehler says to expect more low-income housing activity from Fifth Third Bancorp. The manager of Fifth Third Community Development Corp. wants to help the bank increase its low-income housing lending and investments to keep pace with...

Report: Insurance losses in Ohio hit $375M in '99.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Insurance losses from catastrophic events in Ohio doubled last year to $375 million, Insurance Services Office Inc. reports. Severe storms in January 1999 and a spring tornado in suburban Cincinnati were the major culprits for the jump in...

Image bugaboo costs city a convention, 1,500 visitors.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... The image issue that dogs Columbus has bitten again, leading to the loss last month of an international convention for downtown. What Columbus lost, Austin, Texas, gained with the March 2001 show of the 27th Environmental Symposium and...

Safelite, lenders reach accord over bank debt.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Safelite Glass Corp. has entered into a waiver agreement with its senior bank lenders. The Columbus company, the largest in the automotive glass replacement industry, said in February it was in danger of violating financial covenants on...

Obetz terminal set to shut under AmeriServe cutbacks.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... In the continuing fallout from what Forbes magazine calls "one of the biggest fiascoes to ever hit the restaurant trade," AmeriServe Food Distribution Inc.'s facility in Obetz is expected to close next month, idling at least 74 workers and...

BMW Financial gears up bank to sell its dealerships' customers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... BMW Financial Services Inc., which for the last year has been rolling out a series of expanded products for its BMW and Land Rover vehicle customers, is gearing up for more. The company, which manages $11 billion of assets and has 320,000...

Grocer eyes Morse Center site abandoned by Big Bear.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Lamar Cos., the Morristown, N.J.-based real estate company that specializes in turning around ailing shopping centers, is talking with a grocer for its Morse Center plaza. Big Bear closed its store there when it opened a larger supermarket...

World Market no. 4.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... San Francisco-based Cost Plus Inc. is opening its fourth Cost Plus World Market store in Central Ohio, this one at Easton Market. Cost Plus is a 40-year-old retailer that imports casual home furnishings, house-wares, gifts, decorative...

Some sweet deals.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Chris Cochran, who owns and operates the franchise shop Cookies By Design in Dublin, is finding business among several Columbus companies. She has baked specialty cookies on sticks in the form of lace brassieres for Intimate Brand Inc.'s...

Walgreen's expansion.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Walgreen Co., which built its first Columbus store at the busy Morse Road and Cleveland Avenue intersection near competitor CVS, is planning to build another store at the southwest corner of James Road and Livingston Avenue. It is scheduled to...

Pickerington site set for newest World Gym.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... The fitness industry in Columbus continues to develop. World Gym opened a 4,000-square-foot preview center at 1266 Hill Road in Pickerington April 1. World Gym plans to build a 20,000-square-foot facility in Pickerington near the Route...

Hand-to-hand debate rises over ergonomics regulation.
April 7, 2000... U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., did not need a lobbyist to convince him OSHA's proposed ergonomics regulation would hurt small companies. "As a small manufacturer myself, I can understand the problems and costs small manufacturers will...

Clinton, Congress sizing up stock options bill for a fall.
April 7, 2000... Kent Hoover is Washington bureau chief for Business First. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman traveled to Capitol Hill to endorse legislation that would overturn the Labor Department's ruling that profits from stock options must be included...

More firms may soon get interest on checking.
April 7, 2000... Kent Hoover is Washington bureau chief for Business First. Banks would be allowed to pay interest on business checking accounts under legislation passed by the House Banking Committee. Small-business groups and community banks wanted to...

Bill gives small business tax break for software.
April 7, 2000... Kent Hoover is Washington bureau chief for Business First. Small businesses could immediately deduct the full cost of computer software instead of writing it off over three years under legislation introduced by Rep. Christopher Cox,...

Armey tells producers to have workers push China.
April 7, 2000... Kent Hoover is Washington bureau chief for Business First. House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, says small manufacturers need to enlist their employees in the lobbying effort for permanent normal trading relations with China. ...

Business leaders No. 1 in helping urban schools.
April 7, 2000... Kent Hoover is Washington bureau chief for Business First. Public school officials in the nation's largest urban areas rate business executives and foundations as the most helpful outside groups. Congress and the news media ranked at...

Heavy claims forcing cutbacks at Ohio Casualty.
April 7, 2000... Hamilton-based Ohio Casualty Corp., under pressure from a falling stock price, will cut its work force by 4 percent, chop expenses by eliminating first-class air travel, and trim or curtail some bonuses for executives. The elimination of...

Steris launches shakeup to stem revenue decline.
April 7, 2000... Restructuring charges for Steris Corp. are expected to reach $40 million in the medical device maker's fiscal fourth quarter as the company prepares to report reduced revenue for the three months. At the same time, Mentor-based Steris said...

Executive dropping bid to buy out Manor Care.
April 7, 2000... The chairman of Toledo-based Manor Care Inc., the nation's largest nursing home chain, won't pursue a buyout of the company. In regulatory filings, Stewart Bainum Jr., the son of Manor Care's founder, said he is withdrawing his interest in...

Cole's optical businesses undergoing reorganization.
April 7, 2000... Cleveland-based Cole National is shaking up its eyeglasses business in a bid to fire up flat sales and declining profits. Cole's two optical divisions, Pearle Vision and Licensed Brands, will be managed as independent businesses. The...

Investment will fuel expansion for AmeriStop.
April 7, 2000... Cincinnati venture fund Walnut Group has made an equity investment in AmeriStop Food Mart Inc. with plans to increase gasoline sales and almost double the chain to more than 200 convenience stores over the next five years. Terms of the...

Dana Corp.
April 7, 2000... Toledo-based Dana Corp. expects to post a $25 million gain from the sale of a truck parts division to affiliate Hidden Creek Industries Inc. of Minneapolis. Dana this month sold the operation with 580 workers and $104 million in annual revenue...

Kroger Co.
April 7, 2000... The nation's largest supermarket chain, Kroger Co., plans to buy back up to $750 million of its stock as it tries to bolster its share price, which has fallen about 40 percent in the past year. The Cincinnati grocer said the plan replaces a...

Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
April 7, 2000... Metro Cincinnati enjoyed $2.6 billion in investments in plants, workers and equipment last year, driven by the creation and expansion of nearly 300 companies, a report from the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce says. Also aiding in the...

Metalists International Inc.
April 7, 2000... Lansing, Mich.-based Metalists International Inc. is exploring a purchase of Bliss Technologies Inc., a Warren automotive parts maker that closed plants amid its Chapter 11 reorganization. The Tribune Chronicle newspaper reported Metalists...

River Cities picks Foresight for $2M investment.
April 7, 2000... Columbus-based Foresight Corp. has secured a $2 million initial investment by River Cities Capital Funds of Cincinnati It's the first step in a round of institutional funding expected to reach $4 million to $6 million. Foresight is a...

Workers conditioned to resist can be taught to accept change.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... In an answer to the question, "Do you think people naturally resist change?" my audiences usually respond with an immediate yes. But if people do resist change, why does 50 percent of the married population seek a new mate? Why do we...

Regulators aren't keeping up with fast-changing workplace.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Times they are a-changin'. Not only is this a catchy phrase from a popular 1960s tune, but its message is apropos when considering the future regulation and direction of the work force as affected by technology and a changing economy. The...

PEOPLE.
April 7, 2000... On the move ACCOUNTING Westerman Inc. has hired Scott Carpenter as executive vice president and CFO, responsible for finance, accounting and administrative functions. ADVERTISING, MARKETING & PUBLIC RELATIONS Lord Sullivan...

Longaberger shows up at Oscars.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Academy Award presenters get firm's baskets NEWARK -- Oscar 2000 winners Kevin Spacey and Hilary Swank took home the golden statuettes for best actor and best actress March 26, but their predecessors in those categories took home a basket...

Pair offers solution to truck driver shortage.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Long-haul trucking firms are losing drivers at a rate approaching 100 percent a year. That rings up to a need to hire 85,000 U.S.-based drivers each year for at least seven years. Lawrence LeGrand of Columbus thinks he has the answer to the...

Transitional housing opens for homeless.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... LANCASTER -- Six formerly home-less people now have a place to call home. Lutheran Social Services (LSS) welcomed them to new efficiency apartments April 5. Fairhaven Place is designed as the next step after someone leaves one of the...

Violet Twp. launches development guide.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Violet Township's development guide is hot off the press and ready to be distributed as part of a stepped-up economic development plan. "Sometimes it's hard to distinguish Pickerington from Violet Township because both of us are...

Posthaste.
April 7, 2000... New technologies making it easier for smaller companies to post letters and packages Just three years ago, Frontier Adjusters' three employees went about mailing documents the old-fashioned way: They bought stamps at the post office. ...

Pooh teaches sweet lessons to wine-making shop owner.(Review)
April 7, 2000... Book Title The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff Making wine or beer might be considered a sophisticated hobby, but Nina Hawranick and her husband, Scott Francis, like to keep things open and friendly at their Winemaker's Shop in...

SBA honors Central Ohio entrepreneurs.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Five Central Ohio small business owners will be honored May 17 by the Columbus District Office of the Small Business Administration. Three others will be honored that day for their roles as advocates of small business. The honorees...

Focus on the prospect, not a system, to ensure the sale.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Editor's note: Second in a series. All my sales life I've been deluged by systems of selling. And all my sales life I've fought them as being bogus or at the least manipulative. Not that they are wrong. It's more that they don't always...

Read the fine print when ready to exchange annuity contracts.
April 7, 2000... The evidence is dear -- Americans will do anything to make money. From far-fetched beauty pageants that end in a marriage to a millionaire to opening your first online brokerage account, everyone is eager to get in on the money-making...

Applied Innovation Inc.
April 7, 2000... Applied Innovation Inc. and Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Telesciences Inc. have established a joint development agreement under which Applied Innovation will leverage its networking and connectivity capabilities with Telesciences' billing expertise...

CamSys Communications Inc.
April 7, 2000... CamSys Communications Inc. will offer the Cisco IP/BC Product Family line, through a partnership with Cisco, allowing Internet-driven videoconferencing. CamSys is a provider of videoconferencing systems integration.

Intimate Brands Inc.
April 7, 2000... Intimate Brands Inc. will integrate its personal care design, development, formulation and sourcing functions at its Gryphon Development subsidiary into Bath & Body Works and the Intimate Beauty Corp.'s Victoria's Secret Beauty Co. After July...

Prosper Business Development.
April 7, 2000... Prosper Business Development and PennMedia. com will offer an e-mail newsletter service to radio and television stations and cable systems. The Listener Letters service is expected to capitalize on email viral marketing.

Buckeye Ranch.
April 7, 2000... The Buckeye Ranch retained Dascenzo Perez Inc. to provide creative consultation, coordinate volunteers and facilitate logistics for the Buckeye Ranch Film Festival. Held March 29 at Easton Town Center's Planet Movies, the film festival featured...

John Glenn Institute Internship Program for High School Seniors.
April 7, 2000... The John Glenn Institute Internship Program for High School Seniors is accepting applications for the 2000-2001 academic year. The program allows students to spend their last high school semester working in Columbus at the Statehouse, courts,...

Profitworks Ltd.
April 7, 2000... Profitworks Ltd. has been working with Custom Air Conditioning & Heating Co. to educate all levels of employees about the importance of profit to the company and its employees.

Alta Analytics.
April 7, 2000... Alta Analytics' NetMap for Claims software will be used in a new course at New Mexico State University's criminal justice program. The software is a fraud detection system.

Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.(panel discussion)(Brief Article)(Panel Discussion)
April 7, 2000... Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters will present a live satellite broadcast, Financial Services Modernization: Threat or Opportunity, in which panelists will discuss issues related to the GrammLeach-Bliley Act. The broadcast will take...

Wexner Center for the Arts.(presents award to Robert Rauschenberg)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... The Wexner Center for the Arts will present the eighth annual Wexner Prize to artist Robert Rauschenberg. The $50,000 award is given annually to a major contemporary artist who has been consistenly original, influential and challenging to...

Greater Columbus travel agencies.(ranked by revenue)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Greater Columbus travel agencies Ranked by 1999 gross revenues 1999 1999 AGENCY NAME GREATER REVENUE ...

Government attacked Microsoft -- why not the oil cartel?(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... An oil crisis for consumers is here. Not around the corner, it is here now. The oil-producing states, and the cartel that controls oil production and, therefore, per-barrel crude oil prices, now have prices at nine-year highs. The...

What students really learn on the 'Net.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Now that the school year is winding down and legions of young people are spending more time on the Internet, what do you suppose they will do with their surfing efforts? According to Lycos (www.lycos.com), one of the Internet's most...

Local firm benefits from increased use of private jets.(Executive Jet Inc.)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... High-dollar travelers are responding favorably to the relatively new phenomenon of fractional jet ownership, which has a local supplier of aircraft planning to add more than 550 new planes to its fleet. Columbus-based Executive Jet Inc. is...

Traveling executives more vulnerable to security risks.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Executive protection. The term often brings to mind the idea of fabulously wealthy international executives surrounded by a coterie of bodyguards. The realities of executives' security needs, however, are much more common and much less...

Greater Columbus travel agencies-cruise.(ranked by revenue)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Greater Columbus travel agencies-cruise Ranked by 1999 gross revenues 1999 NUMBER CRUISE AGENCY NAME GROSS CRUISES...

Greater Columbus hotels and motels.(ranked by rooms)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
April 7, 2000... Greater Columbus hotels and motels Ranked by number of rooms NUMBER SUITES/ BANQUET HOTEL NAME OF MEETING ...

Frequent relocation typical for major hotel managers.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... With two children in high school, David Beecham wants to stay put for a while. But the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown admits to wanderlust and thoughts of a coastal lifestyle. "Eventually, I'll get back to the water,"...

Details, details, details key to event planner's success.(Details and Florabunda Designs Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... The name says it all -- Details and Florabunda Designs Inc. Harry Baucom, owner and executive producer of the company, says attention to detail helped his home-based floral and landscape business transition into a thriving floral, design...

Local venues start exploring joint tour marketing efforts.(Columbus, Ohio)
April 7, 2000... Every day between April and October, all 27 of Faye Shockey's motorcoaches are on the road from Louisville. Of more than 500 tours booked each season by Shockey Tours Inc., about two or three visit Columbus. "I don't think we've had...

Downtown hotel rates cross $100 per night rate barrier.(Columbus, Ohio)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... The cost of staying overnight in a Columbus hotel continues to rise, with downtown leading the pack. An Integra Lorms & Belfrage Inc. survey of more than 18,000 rooms at 135 hotels in Franklin County shows the average daily rate across...

Jewish Family Services.(Jeanie Schottenstein wins award)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Jeanie Schottenstein is this year's recipient of the Jewish Family Services' Janice B. Ballas Award, recognizing her work in domestic violence prevention in the Jewish community.

Bricker & Eckler LLP.
April 7, 2000... Catherine A. Hankins of Bricker & Eckler LLP has been elected to a second term as Region 3 director of NALS, a national association of legal support professionals.

American Cancer Society.(Tom Johnson receives award)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Tom Johnson received the 2000 Ohio Cancer Prevention Advocate Award from the American Cancer Society. The award recognizes his work as chairman of the governor's Tobacco Task Force.

Data Processing Sciences Corp.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Data Processing Sciences Corp. received the Advanced Security Specialization rating from Cisco Systems, recognizing DPS's level of Cisco sales and support capabilities.

Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce has named Babette Raush, Associated Insurance Agencies Inc., and Flo Lang, Five Star Staffing Resources, as involved members of the month for March. The award recognizes members' contributions to the...

Sonitrol of Central Ohio Corp.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Sonitrol of Central Ohio Corp. received at its national convention the Circle 10 of Excellence award, which recognizes the top 10 Sonitrol dealerships.

Coldwell Banker Grand Traditions Realtors.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Marty Anders of Coldwell Banker Grand Traditions Realtors Dublin/Hilliard office has been named one of the company's International President's Elite. The award is given to the top 4 percent of agents.

Design Group Inc.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... William J. Orosz, a principal at Design Group Inc., was recertified as a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Fenix Team Inc.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2000... Whitten S. Humphreys, president of Fenix Team Inc., was elected to the Hall of Fellows of the International Business Brokers Association.