LI Business News articles from December 2003

LI Business News archives from December 2003

The pay-per-click Internet market grows into multi-billion dollar business.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter What's the value of the word "mortgages"? In the online realm recently, a Web site called werloans.com was paying search engine Overture $12.26 for it, while loansearchus.com and championmortgage.com were paying...

Michael Dubb of Jericho-based Beechwood Organization resigns from Long Island Builders Institute.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi The region's leading home builder has resigned as a member of the Long Island Builders Institute, taking away an influential voice in the trade group's efforts to promote builders' interests on Long Island. ...

Long Island business owners express confidence in region's economy.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ben Abelson Encouraged by a resurging U.S. economy and rising stock prices, Long Island's business owners expressed growing confidence in the region's economy, according to an annual economic survey released this week. Most of...

Medical journal study shows Viatronix's virtual colonoscopy device effective in detecting cancer.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Viatronix Inc., a maker of virtual colonoscopy devices based on technology developed at Stony Brook University, scored a major victory this week when the New England Journal of Medicine published a study showing its...

Long Island receives $130M in National Institutes of Health medical research grants.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik While Long Island may attract more attention as a hotbed for defense and aerospace contracting than as a mainstay of medical research, its institutions and businesses are luring more grant money than ever from the...

Business leaders urge Nassau County Executive to fill vacancy left by Peter Sylver's resignation.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Rosmaria Mancini Local business leaders are calling on Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi to quickly fill the vacancy left by Peter Sylver, who resigned last week as deputy county executive for economic development. Sylver...

Plainview-based Mercury International Trading Corp. sells sneakers to retailers nationwide.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Back in the 1980s, when he was a young man, Matt Zale saw the best and worst of retail. He built a chain of 36 athletic footwear and apparel stores in seven states and Manhattan that featured a variety of brands,...

Long Island Forum for Technology expands to include technology and software.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter LIFT's Technology Locator program, designed to feed Long Island subcontractors' work from large defense companies, has been expanded to include technology and software, officials said. Unlike defense contracts,...

Edgewood-based Heartland Development grants marketing exclusives to lease three facilities.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi In a move that's unusual on two fronts, Edgewood-based Heartland Development has assigned marketing exclusives to lease three of its buildings in the Hauppauge Industrial Park to separate real estate services...

Long Island's first off-track betting restaurant branch opens in East Meadow.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff It's official. You can now wager on Funny Cide, Empire Maker or Scrimshaw while chowing down on a burger, fries and an ice cold beer. Nassau Downs OTB and Potters Pub in East Meadow held a grand opening ceremony this...

Nassau County hires consultant to review finances of corporation running two health care facilities.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff There's one more person looking over the shoulders of executives at the Nassau Health Care Corp. Nassau County has hired a consultant to review the finances, operations and future of the cash-strapped public benefit...

Long Island Technology Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter Will Rockville Centre-born Dean Kamen, the brains behind the Segway scooter, be putting his mental muscle behind LIMSAT? The hints are tantalizing. The Long Island Museum of Science and Technology is planning a...

Survey by Manhattan research group finds most Americans have limited investing knowledge.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ben Abelson When it comes to investing knowledge, according to one new poll, most Americans fall remarkably short. A majority of retail investors weren't able to correctly answer a variety of general investing knowledge...

Hauppauge Industrial Association wins $50K grant for plan for high-speed Internet access.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter The Hauppauge Industrial Association has received a $50,000 grant from the Empire State Development Corp. to develop a plan for providing high-speed Internet access to the giant industrial park it represents. ...

Results of 10th Annual Long Island Economic Survey give business leaders reason for optimism.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Business leaders on Long Island are an optimistic bunch, based on the results of the 10th Annual Long Island Economic Survey and Opinion Poll conducted by the accounting firm Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co. AVZ...

Commentary: Medicare bill benefits drug firms.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Martin Cantor In amending Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage for seniors, Congress left in its wake winners and losers. The first loser was the American Association of Retired Persons, which supported the Medicare...

Commentary: Caemmerer's foresight may benefit NY Jets.
December 5, 2003... Byline: John Kiernan Last weekend there were reports that officials from the state, New York City and the New York Jets professional football team were close to announcing a deal to build a $1.5 billion stadium on the west side of...

Commentary: To the president, wishing you the best...
December 5, 2003... Byline: Jerry Kremer Being that he has been in office almost three full years, I thought it was time to write a letter to President George Bush. After all, doesn't everybody else write to the president? Dear President Bush: Well,...

Building begins on overdue South Huntington Library's new facility.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi After five years of planning, construction is finally under way on the South Huntington Library's new $11.9 million facility on Pidgeon Hill Road. The project will double the system's capacity and provide vital...

Boston-based AutoOne Insurance sublets Melville site.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi AutoOne Insurance has sublet the third floor - 35,707 square feet of space - at 201 Old Country Road in Melville. The Boston-based insurance firm is subleasing the space through May 2009 from KeySpan Energy...

Suffolk, Brookhaven coordinate land acquisition in E. Setauket.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi Brookhaven Town Supervisor John LaValle and Suffolk County Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher announced last week the open space preservation of a historically significant East Setauket parcel. The land acquired by...

Long Island Legal Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Rosmaria Mancini Mineola-based Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn recently completed two large transactions on behalf of Northrop Grumman. The defense company sold a 5.4-acre parcel of land located on Grumman...

Well-constructed business e-mail features detailed by consultants.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Adina Genn Are your e-mails getting read? With the staggering level of spam, forwarded jokes and chain letters, chances are pretty high that recipients could inadvertently delete your message. If you need share timely...

Five things you didn't know about Bill Savino / Managing Partner at Rivkin Radler.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Adina Genn An avid bocci ball player, Savino has a regulation court in his backyard. He hosts a reception for the firm's partners and summer associates in August. A full-blown tournament usually results from a few seemingly...

Long Island Entrepreneurial Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Adina Genn At dinner one night, veteran entrepreneur Dennis Michael Lynch and his friend Andy Janczak attached a magnet to the neck of a wine bottle to see how it affected the flavor. To their surprise, the wine tasted...

Meinberg named to board of Nassau Chapter of NY State Society of Certified Public Accountants.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak Mark L. Meinberg, managing partner of Feldman, Meinberg & Co. in Syosset, was named a board member of the Nassau Chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. A member of the NYSSCPA's...

Great Neck-based Signalert Corp. celebrates its 30th anniversary.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak Great Neck-based Signalert Corp. is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Gerald Appel opened Signalert, a registered investment advisory company, in November 1973. The company, together with its affiliate Appel...

Long Island medical facilities announce staffing changes: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak The New York State Nursing Association presented Eleanor O'Boyle, assistant vice president for nursing education at Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, with the 2003 Nursing Service Administration Award. ...

Joseph J. Ortego, a partner at Nixon Peabody, elected to American Board of Trial Advocates.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak Joseph J. Ortego, a partner at Nixon Peabody, was elected a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and of the organization's New York chapter. ABOTA members help younger attorneys achieve a higher level of...

Jane B. Walsh presented with Alzheimer's Foundation of America's National Leadership Award.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak Jane B. Walsh, founder and chairman emeritus of the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation, was presented with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's first National Leadership Award for her "unflagging crusade to ensure...

The Blankman Group of Garden City receives two merit awards for achievement in education journalism.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak The Blankman Group of Garden City was a two-time winner in the New York School Public Relations Association's 24th annual Communications Contest. Blankman received two separate Awards of Merit for Achievement in...

Long Island real estate firms announce staffing changes: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak David Pliskin joined Pliskin Realty & Development in Carle Place as executive vice president of property management. Pliskin will be responsible for overall facilities management and related office administration...

Empire Research of New York, a pre-employment background investigation service, hires Wiscovitch.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak Empire Research of New York, a pre-employment background investigation service, hired Vince Wiscovitch as director of marketing. Wiscovitch, of Malverne, is responsible for marketing the company's services,...

Long Island Marketing Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Mangia Media doesn't care whether you view the coffee cup as half full or half empty. It's only interested in putting advertising on the outside of the cup and, apparently, it's found a firm who thinks the same way....

Long Island Medical Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice of Suffolk is letting patients give themselves a check-up in their own home through a new "telemonitoring" system that collects patients' vital signs and transmits it via a wireless...

Long Island Non-profit Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak March for Charity raises $25,000 for breast cancer The Mayer March for Charity, sponsored by Mayer & Co. CPAs in Deer Park raised $25,000 benefiting nine nonprofit agencies that provide treatment, support and...

Englewood, Colo.-based Arrow Electronics forms new sales unit.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Arrow Electronics Inc.'s (NYSE: ARW) support net division, based in Englewood, Colo., has formed a sales unit designed to help IBM resellers enter the government IT market, the company said. "The government IT market...

Shares of Lake Success-based Astoria Financial Corp. climb despite downgrade.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Shares of Astoria Financial Corp., the holding company for Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association, rose 72 cents to $38.10, a nearly 2 percent climb, in late afternoon trading despite being downgraded to "hold"...

Lifetime Hoan buys Hauppauge-based Gemco Ware out of bankruptcy.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Housewares maker Lifetime Hoan Corp. (Nasdaq: LCUT) said Monday it acquired Gemco Ware Inc., a maker of glassware used to store food, out of bankruptcy. Gemco, a 55-year-old firm based in Hauppauge, filed for Chapter...

Pall Corp. obtains global rights for Gore-Tex filter technology.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Pall Corp. (NYSE: PLL ) said Wednesday it obtained exclusive worldwide rights from W. L. Gore & Associates to use Gore-Tex filter technology in filters for brine, catalyst recovery and wastewater treatment. Although...

United Kingdom insurers agree to cover Vasomedical's EECP therapy.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Five major private insurers in the United Kingdom have agreed to cover Vasomedical Inc.'s (NasdaqSC: VASO) external counterpulsation therapy, or EECP, the company announced. The companies, BUPA, Norwich Union,...

Plato's Closet, a Minneapolis-based clothing reseller, to make its Long Island debut.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Plato's Closet, a Minneapolis-based retail chain that specializes in the buying and selling of new and used clothing, is scheduled to open its first store on Long Island on Thursday at Independence Plaza in Selden. ...

Bethpage-based Cablevision's Voom satellite service to carry Playboy in HD.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff The new Voom satellite service from Cablevision Systems has signed a deal with Playboy Enterprises Inc (NYSE: PLA) to carry its adult programming in high-definition format, Reuters reported. Playboy, whose magazine...

Shares of Kimco Realty Corp. hold strong despite downgrade.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Shares of Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE:KIM) shed only 1.1 percent or 50 cents to reach $44.24 in mid-day trading Tuesday after UBS downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy." UBS's downgrade came the day after Kimco...

Netsmart Technologies wins $900,000 contract with Nevada agency.
December 5, 2003... Byline: LIBN Staff Netsmart Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: NTST) has won a $900,000 multi-year contract with Nevada's Division of Children and Family Services, the company announced. The contract, signed with Netsmart subsidiary Creative...

Charity targets 2 schools for holiday giving.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Cerini Santa Claus is an ever-present vision during the holiday season - clad in his recognizable red suit and black boots, his rosy cheeks glowing above his white beard. It's an image every one of us shares. However, for...

Long Island Technology Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter Will Rockville Centre-born Dean Kamen, the brains behind the Segway scooter, be putting his mental muscle behind LIMSAT? The hints are tantalizing. The Long Island Museum of Science and Technology is planning a...

Long Island Financial Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ben Abelson When it comes to investing knowledge, according to one new poll, most Americans fall remarkably short. A majority of retail investors weren't able to correctly answer a variety of general investing knowledge...

Hauppauge Industrial Association wins $50K grant for plan for high-speed Internet access.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter The Hauppauge Industrial Association has received a $50,000 grant from the Empire State Development Corp. to develop a plan for providing high-speed Internet access to the giant industrial park it represents. ...

Long Island Real Estate Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi Brookhaven Town Supervisor John LaValle and Suffolk County Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher announced last week the open space preservation of a historically significant East Setauket parcel. The land acquired by...

Long Island Legal Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Rosamaria Mancini Mineola-based Forchelli, Curto, Schwartz, Mineo, Carlino & Cohn recently completed two large transactions on behalf of Northrop Grumman. The defense company sold a 5.4-acre parcel of land located on Grumman...

Wieboldt takes home Hall of Fame award from NY State Builders Association.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Lisa Josefak The New York State Builders Association presented Bob Wieboldt with its Hall of Fame award. Wieboldt, executive vice president of the Long Island Builders Institute in Islandia, was honored for his "leadership and...

Meinberg named board member of Nassau Chapter of NY State Society of Certified Public Accountants.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Mark L. Meinberg, managing partner of Feldman, Meinberg & Co. in Syosset, was named a board member of the Nassau Chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. A member of...

Great Neck-based Signalert Corp. celebrates its 30th anniversary.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Great Neck-based Signalert Corp. is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Gerald Appel opened Signalert, a registered investment advisory company, in November 1973. The company, together with its...

Long Island health care facilities announce staffing changes: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff The New York State Nursing Association presented Eleanor O'Boyle, assistant vice president for nursing education at Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, with the 2003 Nursing Service...

Joseph J. Ortego, a partner at Nixon Peabody, elected to American Board of Trial Advocates.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Joseph J. Ortego, a partner at Nixon Peabody, was elected a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and of the organization's New York chapter. ABOTA members help younger attorneys...

Jane B. Walsh presented with Alzheimer's Foundation of America's first National Leadership Award.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Jane B. Walsh, founder and chairman emeritus of the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation, was presented with the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's first National Leadership Award for her "unflagging...

Blankman Group of Garden City named winner in NY School Public Relations Assn.'s contest.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff The Blankman Group of Garden City was a two-time winner in the New York School Public Relations Association's 24th annual Communications Contest. Blankman received two separate Awards of Merit...

Long Island real estate firms announce staffing changes: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff David Pliskin joined Pliskin Realty & Development in Carle Place as executive vice president of property management. Pliskin will be responsible for overall facilities management and related...

Empire Research of New York hires Vince Wiscovitch as director of marketing.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Empire Research of New York, a pre-employment background investigation service, hired Vince Wiscovitch as director of marketing. Wiscovitch, of Malverne, is responsible for marketing the...

Long Island Marketing Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Mangia Media doesn't care whether you view the coffee cup as half full or half empty. It's only interested in putting advertising on the outside of the cup and, apparently, it's found a firm who thinks the same way....

Long Island Medical Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice of Suffolk is letting patients give themselves a check-up in their own home through a new "telemonitoring" system that collects patients' vital signs and transmits it via a wireless...

Cash for clicks.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter What's the value of the word "mortgages"? In the online realm recently, a Web site called werloans.com was paying search engine Overture $12.26 for it, while loansearchus.com and championmortgage.com were paying...

Viatronix's virtual colonoscopy devices win a rave review.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Viatronix Inc., a maker of virtual colonoscopy devices based on technology developed at Stony Brook University, scored a major victory this week when the New England Journal of Medicine published a study showing its...

Michael Dubb leaves Long Island Builders Association.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi The region's leading home builder has resigned as a member of the Long Island Builders Institute, taking away an influential voice in the trade group's efforts to promote builders' interests on Long Island. ...

Local business owners bullish on Long Island.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ben Abelson Encouraged by a resurging U.S. economy and rising stock prices, Long Island's business owners expressed growing confidence in the region's economy, according to an annual economic survey released this week. Most of...

Long Island institutions rake in $130M in NIH medical research grants.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik While Long Island may attract more attention as a hotbed for defense and aerospace contracting than as a mainstay of medical research, its institutions and businesses are luring more grant money than ever from the...

Biz leaders: Fill Sylver's post quickly.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Rosamaria Mancini Local business leaders are calling on Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi to quickly fill the vacancy left by Peter Sylver, who resigned last week as deputy county executive for economic development. Sylver...

LIFT adds tech focus to $3B project.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ken Schachter LIFT's Technology Locator program, designed to feed Long Island subcontractors' work from large defense companies, has been expanded to include technology and software, officials said. Unlike defense contracts,...

Edgewood-based Heartland Development turns to brokers for a change.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi In a move that's unusual on two fronts, Edgewood-based Heartland Development has assigned marketing exclusives to lease three of its buildings in the Hauppauge Industrial Park to separate real estate services...

Building begins on South Huntington's overdue library project.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Nick Anastasi After five years of planning, construction is finally under way on the South Huntington Library's new $11.9 million facility on Pidgeon Hill Road. The project will double the system's capacity and provide vital...

AutoOne grows at Melville site.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff AutoOne Insurance has sublet the third floor - 35,707 square feet of space - at 201 Old Country Road in Melville. The Boston-based insurance firm is subleasing the space through May 2009 from...

Business leaders on Long Island are optimistic.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Business leaders on Long Island are an optimistic bunch, based on the results of the 10th Annual Long Island Economic Survey and Opinion Poll conducted by the accounting firm Albrecht, Viggiano,...

Commentary: Medicare bill benefits drug firms.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Martin Cantor In amending Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage for seniors, Congress left in its wake winners and losers. The first loser was the American Association of Retired Persons, which supported the Medicare...

Commentary: To the president, wishing you the best...
December 5, 2003... Byline: Jerry Kremer Being that he has been in office almost three full years, I thought it was time to write a letter to President George Bush. After all, doesn't everybody else write to the president? Dear President Bush: Well,...

RE: This is an important message, really.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Adina Genn Are your e-mails getting read? With the staggering level of spam, forwarded jokes and chain letters, chances are pretty high that recipients could inadvertently delete your message. If you need share timely...

Touro College's dreams for new law center dig in.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Rosamaria Mancini It was a year marked by the shuffle of attorneys from one firm to another, but one of the boldest moves made this year was by Touro College's Jacob B. Fuchsberg Law Center. The law school began to finally turn...

Commercial insurance brokers clean up in 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ben Abelson While the past year was somewhat rocky for property/casualty insurers - with many still beset by continued profitability concerns and a large number of insolvencies - the year has shaped up as a successful one for...

U.S. District Court for W. District of NY orders malpractice insurer to indemnify plaintiff.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Helen Nguyen In a case where the plaintiff/attorney was being sued for malpractice, was the insurer's disclaimer of coverage untimely? If it was, did the delay in disclaiming coverage prejudice the plaintiff? Following a remand...

'Irreparable harm' not established in trade secrets court case before U.S. District Court.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Helen Nguyen Was there sufficient evidence to establish that the plaintiff would suffer irreparable harm if the court failed to grant its motion for a preliminary injunction? Alleging that the defendant, a former employee, was...

NY charity targets 2 schools for holiday giving.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff Santa Claus is an ever-present vision during the holiday season - clad in his recognizable red suit and black boots, his rosy cheeks glowing above his white beard. It's an image every one of us...

Long Island Not-for-profits Briefs: December 5, 2003.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Long Island Business News Staff March for Charity raises $25,000 for breast cancer The Mayer March for Charity, sponsored by Mayer & Co. CPAs in Deer Park raised $25,000 benefiting nine nonprofit agencies that provide...

Lights out at historic LI law firm.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Rosmaria Mancini Rains & Pogrebin, one of Long Island's first labor law firms and a leader in workplace and employment issues, is being dissolved. The boutique firm is calling it quits after 56 years due to divergent interests...

Henry Schein almost out of flu vaccine.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Claude Solnik Henry Schein Inc., the nation's biggest distributor of influenza vaccine, is suffering a little itself. After an aggressive marketing campaign this fall designed to pump up early demand - and following a surge in...