Business First-Columbus articles from January 1996

Business First-Columbus archives from January 1996

Mainframe meltdown: year 2000 threatens to shutdown outdated computer, companies.
January 1, 1996... It's called the problem of the century - literally. Normally, it's a simple matter to change the calendar to the new year. But not in the world of mainframe computers. These massive computers use an older language designed with a two-digit...

Modell walked when he shoulda' talked, Voinovich says of Browns deal. (interview with Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich about the relocation of the football club Cleveland Browns)
January 1, 1996... "For God's sake, Art, don't sneak out of town." Thus was the plaintive - if doomed - plea of Ohio Gov. George V. Voinovich to his longtime friend and Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell shortly before Modell shocked and angered an entire state,...

Economists predict slow '96. (1996 US economy)
January 1, 1996... If you thought 1995 was a slow year economically, you might as well unbuckle your seatbelt for 1996. Growth this year is going to creep along at about 2 percent, local economists said. "The theme is going to be slow, slow, and slower," said...

Riverside in talks with leading outpatient center operator. (Surgical Care Affiliates Inc.'s possible alliance with Riverside Methodist Hospitals)
January 1, 1996... The nation's largest independent operator of outpatient surgery centers is interested in setting up shop in the Columbus market. But if its current negotiations are successful, the company - Nashville-based Surgical Care Affiliates Inc. - won't...

Casto group pushing ahead with plans for apartments. (development projects by Don M. Casto Organization)
January 1, 1996... Columbus developer Don M. Casto Organization will re-enter the apartment development business this year with more than 600 units spread throughout three complexes. Casto Communities Inc. will break ground this month on a $13 million, 272-unit...

Outreach program promotes knowledge of courts and law. (People's Law School course in Columbus, Ohio)
January 1, 1996... The Columbus Bar Association, Capital University Law School and the Ohio Trial Lawyers Association are teaming up to increase the public's awareness and knowledge of the legal system. The trio's creation, the People's Law School. is an...

Franklin MBA program puts student's minds right. (Franklin University)
January 1, 1996... An official of Harvard University's business school recently called up the Herrmann Group, a think-tank on creativity and the brain, asking for guidance. Aware that corporations are beginning to value innovation and holistic thinking over mere...

State seeks broader powers to regulate managed care. (Ohio Department of Insurance)
January 1, 1996... The Ohio Department of Insurance will ask state lawmakers next month for broader powers to regulate managed-care companies. ODI, which regulates insurance companies and health-maintenance organizations, will ask legislators for authority to...

Opera Columbus hitting high notes.
January 1, 1996... A jealous boyfriend threatens to kill himself upon learning that his lover has married someone else. His lover married for money only to kill her new husband on their wedding night. The boyfriend takes his own life the following day and his lover...

One-stop shopping. (Kaleidoscope Enterprises Inc. in Columbus, Ohio)(Small Business Strategies)
January 1, 1996... Convention needs are Kaleidoscope's forte One-stop-shopping is the name of the game for three Columbus businesswomen who provide convention services. The group recently formed Kaleidoscope Enterprises Inc., a destination management company...

Minority plan nixes fed funds. (Columbus, Ohio business advocates' avoidance of the Specialized Small Investment Companies program)(Small Business Strategies)
January 1, 1996... Local business advocates working on ways to fund minority and women-owned businesses have decided to steer clear of a federal program designed to help minority small businesses - despite a promise of 4-1 matching dollars. The reason? The...

Investors provide forum for capital seekers. (Columbus Investment Interest Group)(Small Business Strategies)
January 1, 1996... Joseph Borovsky and Alex Pokora launched Enzymol International, their biotechnology company, in 1993. Borovsky and Pokora raised capital through private investors in Columbus. The two had no idea that the biotechnology sector nationwide would...

Tax relief fades for home businesses.(Small Business Strategies)
January 1, 1996... Jim Fry has had his own home-based office for 15 years, selling equestrian insurance for horses and horse farms. Fry, owner of Equine Insurance, has never had the deductions for his home office questioned by the Internal Revenue Service, but...

Trust reduces red tape in inter-company pacts.(Small Business Strategies)
January 1, 1996... Firms founded on firm handshakes may have an unshakable economic edge over companies encumbered with contractual legal agreements. That, according to Jay Barney, professor of business and management at Ohio State University, is because firms...

Cleveland company acquires Meeks & Co. benefits firm. (Benefits Group)
January 8, 1996... The Benefits Group, Northern Ohio's largest private employee-benefits consulting firm, has acquired Columbus-based Meeks & Co. The acquisition, effective Jan. 1, positions the Cleveland-based firm to expand its Central Ohio presence. It gives...

Bancinsurance Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
January 8, 1996... Company Name: Bancinsurance Corp. Exchange: NASDAQ Symbol: BCIS Local Subsidiary: Ohio Indemnity Co. Company Profile Bancinsurance Corp., based in Columbus, is a specialty insurance holding company primarily engaged, through its...

KeyCorp electronic bank debuts at suburban store. (Society National Bank; Meijer Inc.)
January 15, 1996... Another retail banking giant is trying its hand at electronic branching. Cleveland-based KeyCorp, known in Columbus as Society National Bank, will pilot its first 24-hour electronic branch this winter at a Meijer Supercenter Store in...

Small firm helps AT&T cure program headache. (ProductionWorks Inc.)
January 15, 1996... Just as in the Aesop's fable in which Androcles earned the friendship of a lion when he pulled a thorn from its paws, so has a small Columbus software company earned the friendship - and business - of AT&T. AT&T, that telecommunications giant...

State may fund I-670 tunnel.
January 29, 1996... Salerno pushes for cap money in improvement bill Rep. Amy Salerno is pushing hard for state money to cap a section of I-670 - and her November re-election effort. The freshman Columbus Republican is actively lobbying to include up to $11...

Sticker shock fuels demand for cuts in supplier prices.
January 29, 1996... At TS Trim Industries inc., Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. is helping to solve a problem - a problem the Marysville-based auto manufacturer helped create. As have several domestic and foreign automakers, Honda is asking its suppliers for...

Preservationists race to save Masonic Temple.
January 29, 1996... City issues permit for demolition Preservationists and city officials are scrambling to save the Masonic Temple in the wake of a demolition permit issued for the building, owned by the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. Franklin B. Conaway, an...

Big banks cashing in on small business.
January 29, 1996... Small business owners never had it so good. Once snubbed by banks, they now find lenders knocking on their doors and willing to make deals to get their business. "Banks are out there looking to do business," said Mark Barbash, executive...

Lawmakers likely to OK bill curbing telemarketer scams.
January 29, 1996... An Ohio bill touted as the toughest in the country to snare unscrupulous telemarketers is on a legislative fast track and will likely become law in July, officials said. But established telemarketers question the need for the bill, saying...

Keethler seeks bonding OK for $12.5M apartment unit. (Keethler Cos.)
January 29, 1996... Columbus residential developer Keethler Cos. has plans to tap county-sponsored tax-exempt bonds to finance an Eastland area apartment complex. The developer hopes to finance almost $12.2 million of the $12.5 million, 255-unit project through...

Columbus State hires firm to aid in president search. (Columbus State Community College)
January 29, 1996... Columbus State Community College has hired a Washington, D.C. firm to coordinate its national search for a new president. The school hopes to have the post filled within four months, but only after gathering input from several community groups....

OSU moves to strengthen network ties to rural hospitals. (Ohio State University Hospitals)
January 29, 1996... Ohio State University Hospitals is tightening its loose affiliation with nearby rural hospitals and their medical staffs into a more formalized network. The move paves the way for University Hospitals to launch its own HMO and...

Dealers cast wary eye on chains' plans for used-car network.
January 29, 1996... Columbus auto dealers say they haven't lost any sleep over plans by two big companies to launch nationwide used-car dealerships chains. But those same dealers say they plan to keep a close eye on their newfangled competitors, especially as...

Tag program adds shelf life to Ohio Proud products. (Ohio Proud program)
January 29, 1996... The state Agriculture Department is teaming up with local manufacturers and grocers to encourage consumers to buy food raised, grown or processed in Ohio. The department is adding a new marketing component to its three-year-old Ohio Proud...

Embezzlers profit from weak controls.(Small Business Strategies)
January 29, 1996... While business owners can be quick to react to inefficiency or high costs, they often are oblivious to signs of embezzlement. Compounding the problem is that it can be difficult to confront suspected embezzlers. Sometimes they are trusted...

You needn't play 20 questions to solve prospect's problem.
January 29, 1996... Questions breed sales. Using questions to find facts is critical to creating an atmosphere in which a sale can be made. Sales solutions are easy once you identify the prospect's problems. Here is a questioning technique that employs five...

Columbus Chamber opens World Wide Web's 'supersite.' (Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce)
January 29, 1996... The Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce is developing a "supersite" on the World Wide Web. The site, said Chamber spokesman Karen Stevenson, will help pull together information about Central Ohio, give listings of Chamber members and help...

Rich lifestyles make IRS suspect tax fraud.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Accountants specializing in tax management have begun making some noise about a new emphasis by the IRS on examining taxpayer lifestyles as well as tax returns. Financial Status Auditing, a part of the Internal Revenue Service's "Compliance...

Bank brokers fail to warn investors of security risks.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Although bankers vehemently defend their securities sales practices, mystery shopping surveys continue to show that bank brokers are not adequately informing investors that the products they sell are not federally insured. Prophet Market...

Minimum tax threatens benefits from capital gains cut.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... A cut in the tax rate applied to capital gains will probably survive the budget impasse between President Clinton and congressional Republicans. Though the president does not include such a cut in his budget proposal, he has voiced tentative...

Shareholder suits may become fewer, larger.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Publicly held companies should see fewer shareholder lawsuits as a result of legislation Congress passed in December, in its first override of a President Clinton veto. The new law is meant to protect public companies as well as their...

Child tax credit reform most likely to succeed.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Tax relief stemming from federal balanced-budget legislation is stuck in a political quagmire at this point, but some items are still relatively safe bets for the 1996 tax year. Both congressional Republicans and President Clinton have each...

Life expectancy key to lower taxes for elderly.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... It's hard to overemphasize how your choice of retirement plan beneficiary can impact the portion of your benefits that will end up being paid to the government. In a typical fact pattern, only 20 percent of the retirement plan assets of...

Ban on nonresident pension tax boosts retiree income.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Millions of retirees will save tens of millions of dollars in taxes, and they can thank William and Joanne Hoffman. The two former Californians, who are now retired in Nevada, became champions of taxpayer rights when they found out their former...

Americans in denial on retirement saving.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Telling Americans to calculate the total sums they need to save for retirement may not work for most people, because the numbers are too overwhelming, retirement is too remote, and life in retirement is too difficult to envision. This is the...

Wrap accounts offer investment options for all ages.(Tax Planning and Investment)
January 29, 1996... Mary B. is confronting what should be considered a "good problem" in her finances: she is suddenly flush with cash. Her certificate of deposit is maturing and she just received a small inheritance. At the same time, hefty obligations loom on...