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This week's top items in CoStar Lead Street report on federal regulators' concerns about KB Home, Rite Aid and AmSouth Bancorporation and what impact that oversight could have on financing and property plans. We also look at Dunkin' Brands plans to stick to a diet of donuts and ice cream; Hanesbrands plans to cut its space needs for panties and underwear and an assortment of other news. More Homebuilder Troubles KB Home in Los Angeles said it has received a letter purporting to be a notice of default under the indenture related to its 6-1/4% senior notes due 2015. The letter asserts that KB Home is in default under the indenture because of a delay in filing its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its third quarter ended Aug. 31, 2006. The report was due earlier this month.
Oxnard, CA Amiad, a producer and global supplier of water filters and filtration systems for the industrial & municipal and the irrigation markets, announces that it has been selected as prime contractor for a US$1.4m contract for the treatment of sewage for the Municipality of Raanana, a suburban area north-east of Tel-Aviv, Israel, with an estimated resident population of about 70,000. The project, which involves the tertiary treatment of sewage at the Municipality's treatment plant, is one of the largest systems of this type in Israel and is Amiad's biggest single project of its kind. The project is scheduled to be delivered by the end of January 2007 and covers the installation of a complete treatment works including a filtration system based on Amiad's automated filters and multi-media filters, pumping station, excavation & piping, electrical & control kit, erection of plant, operations and maintenance for a year.
The notion of providing tax breaks for modular housing on the Gulf Coast as a means to provide fast, affordable housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina has seemed a no-brainer. Gov. Haley Barbour, in calling today's special legislative session to address that one issue, has said that this tax break will reduce the cost of new homes for Coast families by $4,000 to $6,000 per home. "The number one priority and challenge in Mississippi caused by Katrina is housing," Barbour said. "We must act now to remove barriers to building housing on the Gulf Coast, and reducing the tax on modular homes is a necessary step toward that end." But House Speaker Billy McCoy, who did not push his chamber to take up the modular housing tax break in the previous special session, has expressed concern that the tax break won't benefit homeowners but contractors or modular home manufacturers.
Volunteer fireman Mike Shrout risks his life to help others because that's what he does, not for the glory that follows.
During an open house held during Fire Safety Week in Fulton, Shrout was presented with the State Fire Marshals Lifesaving Award and an Award of Valor - two of the highest recognitions a fireman can receive.Shrout doesn't believe his actions deserve special honor. Following the presentation, the 25-year fire veteran said, “The award means a lot to me, but I don't feel I did anything that any other firefighter would not have done. That's what we do."Shrout was recommended for the awards for the “selfless action" he took this March in saving the life of a Fulton woman, who was trapped in the basement of her collapsed, tornado-ravaged home.According to Central Fire District Protection reports, the newly built modular home was lifted off its foundation and had caved in and split in two with homeowner Joyce King trapped under the debris.Her husband Lawrence - who had escaped and crawled to a neighbor's house for help - also was injured.
During the IDF Fall 06, Patrick Wong, Intels Marketing Engineer of Digital Home Group, talked about tricks for Developers to optimize HD Video playback as well as ways to saving power. Most are for developers, but there are still some tricks we may borrow to enhance our existing playback time. First, we should play video in Full Screen Mode. Windowed mode exposes the desktop, desktop refresh rate, and Windowed mode exposes the desktop, desktop refresh rate, and composition. Thus, Windowed mode enormously increases the power and compute Windowed mode enormously increases the power and compute. Its a burden of the compositor. If we play video in Full Screen Mode, we may get a power saving up to 1 Watt. .
In response to Commissioner Faye Dyer's Oct. 17 letter, "Correcting inequities," I would like to provide a correction to one of her statements. Dyer asserts that Madison residents living in Limestone County pay nothing to send their children to Madison City Schools. This is incorrect. Those residents pay an 8.5 mills county school tax, which Limestone County keeps, and an 11 mills City of Madison school tax, which goes to Madison City Schools. I do not know where Dyer obtained her data, but I received the facts stated here from the Madison mayor's office. Furthermore, I think Dyer's comments are more telling as to her agenda on this issue: The Madison County sales tax is lower than Limestone County by a half-cent. And truth be told, a sales tax has a much broader base, and is therefore able to better fund schools while having less of a financial impact on the taxpayer than a property tax.
SANTA FE (AP) - The work of a Virginia contractor that installed New Mexico's problem-plagued payroll and accounting computer system is being reviewed by state officials.The state confirmed Tuesday that the review is focusing on the work of Maximus Inc., which beat out three other firms to win the contract for the new payroll and accounting system in early 2005."Did the vendor meet all its obligations?" is among questions being asked, said Carroll Cagle, chair of the state Information Technology Commission, which has been monitoring the conversion to the new system.Payments to thousands of jurors statewide were delayed because of the system, and workers at more than three dozen state agencies have lodged complaints since the system went online in July.Some people say the system is so complex that patience is needed, but switching over will ultimately modernize how New Mexico purchases goods and pays employees.
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