GM Tonawanda takes 5-week recess - Business First of Buffalo:

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About 500 factory workers and 140 salaried personnel are affected bythe five-weekj shutdown. said in May that productioh would be stopped for three weeks at the localp facility as the automaker reduces inventory by temporarily idlintg a number ofits plants. That period is beingg combined with theregular two-weejk planned companywide shutdown that starts on June 29. Spokeswoman Nina Price said that a small workforcseof “maybe 100” is stayingg on the job during much of the plant’es three-week shutdown. No schedule change at the locak plant has been ordered at this time becausse of an extension of the temporary summertime closures at sevenGM factories, she said.
These locationd include the Oshawa, Ont., car plant, and other assembl y plants at Lordstown, Ohio, Shreveport, La., and Oriom Township - which receive engines from The latest round of closures was announced this week and rang from one added week at the Oshawa factor y to four additional weeks at the Lansiny Grand River plantin Michigan. Most of the locationz will go down for three addes weeksin July.

OSHA seeks fines against East Central Machine & Tool - St. Louis Business Journal:

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for alleged safety and health violations andproposes $117,900 in penalties. OSHA said Monday it citedr the company following an investigation into an accident where an employee lost two fingeras in a mechanicalpower press. The inspection found one alleged willful and 11 alleged seriouzs violations of the Occupational Safety andHealth Act. The company failedf to ensure the mechanical power preszs had an option to select various speed settinga amongother features, OSHA said. “This worker’s life will be forever changed,” said Charles Adkins, OSHA’es regional administrator in Kansas Mo., in a statement. “Therr is no excuse for this accident.
” Family-ownexd East Central Machine & Tool Co., which has nine has requested an informal conferencew this weekwith OSHA’a assistant area director in St. Louis and if need be, will contesgt the citations before an administrativelaw judge, accordinvg Ira Blank, a lawyer from in Clayton. "Frokm the company's standpoint, the machine was operating properly, and the gentlemamn stuck his hands into the press Blank said. "Why did he do it? I don'g know. The machine was properly processing this metal and doin what it was supposedto do.
"

Crate & Barrel

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Crate & Barrel, based in Ill., confirmed May 27 that Atlantq is one of the metroareas it’s scoutinh for potential locations for CB2. First launcheds in Chicago, the CB2 concepgt features contemporary furnishings at lowerprice points. The merchandise, whicg includes sofas, hand-woven rugs, convertiblse beds and a broader selection of eclectic home décor, is focused more on the younger generation of Americah consumers that rent apartments and small urban lofts.
Besidesa Chicago, privately owned Crate & Barrel has rolledf out CB2 in New York and including a new store in Los Angeles that opened in Another CB2 is slated to openin Miami’e South Beach later this year, a Crate Barrel spokeswoman said. In all, Crate Barrel has launched just six CB2 Inrecent years, CB2 officials have been focusing on new locations in Southern California. The company tends to locatd in areaswith high-profile regional shoppinv centers, lifestyle centers and freestanding sites. CB2 officialz have been looking in denselty populated areas with an average household income in excesdof $50,000. Its prototyper store is about 12,000 squarwe feet.
While Crate & Barrel would not confirj what parts ofAtlanta it’s been considering, sources familiarr with the search say it’s focused on Midtowbn and West Midtown, where new residential and retaiol redevelopment projects are still under way. In Midtown, Daniel and are developing 12th Midtown, a $2 billion mixed-use project built on a site that several years ago was little more than an Atlantaz nightclub and a couple ofparking lots.
Daniel and Selig Enterprisess have made a presentation to officials from CB2 inreceny months, according to sources familiar with the The projects will eventually feature more than 3 million squares feet of residential and commercial CB2 would be the first national retailer to locate on the Midtowhn Mile, a section of Peachtree Street that economic development boosters hope will eventually become a retail destination much like Madisoj Avenue in New York City or the Magnificenf Mile in Chicago. Daniel’s and Selig project is meant to be a cornerstone of theMidtowj Mile.
However, ’s Colony Squard and Jamestown’s 999 Peachtree will also be key components, alonfg with 1100 Peachtree and1180 Peachtree, to a lesser extent, brokerds and developers said. CB2 coulc be an important catchn for theMidtown Mile. however, really need to land a much larger anchor storr to give theconcept momentum, said Maranda Walker-Dowell, a senio r director with CB .’ retail services group. Barney’s, whicy has a co-op store in Buckhead’s Phipp Plaza, has been scouting the area in the past year to18 “The Midtown Mile needs an anchodr store to start creating that criticalk mass of retail,” Walker-Dowell said.

ComScore says Web traffic jumps on tax sites - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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That's according to Reston, Va.-basef ComScore Media Metrix, which on Monday released its monthluy analysis of consumer activity at the top online The tax category had more than 23 million visitorsd as Americans prepared to file That was up 202 percent compared with earning it the category that grew by thewidesyt margin. had 12.5 million visitors, TaxACT saw 5.8 million visitor s and had 5.3 million visitors. Also, the politics categor grew 65 percentto 13.8 million visitors as primarhy season unfurled with Iowa caucuses in January and Americans soughtt information on presidential candidates. led the traffic with 2.2 milliomn visitors, up 429 percent from December, followed by with 1.
1 million visitors, up 202 percent. In the Republican race, wooesd 937,000 visitors, up 96 percent, whilwe grew 261 percent to 596,000 visitors. Accordingg to ComScore, many Americans also appearr to be on the hunt for In January, CareerBuilder LLC had 24.8 millionb hits, had 17.4 million visitors and Monster saw 17.1 million Real estate also saw a larg uptick in clicks. Move Networ k led the categorywith 10.1 million visitors, whilwe Yahoo! Real Estate had 4.6 million visitors and saw 3.5 million ComScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) tracks Internet traffic from work, home and universitg computers inthe U.S. There were 184.2 million uniquwe users in January, up from 183.
6 million in

Franchise Foodservice business to transition to McLane - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Now in receivership, Franchise Foodservice said Monday that it has entere d into a transition support agreementwith , based in Texas, and will transition its business to McLanw over the next two months. McLand will be prepared to purchaseexisting inventory, hire qualifiecd Franchise Foodservice employees and offer service to its customers as part of the agreement. Franchise Foodservice announcedc last week that it filed for The announcement was quickly followed by the filing of layofff notices with the state warning of the pending eliminatioh of125 jobs. In those filings, Franchise Foodservice said it expectsa to close itsdoors Nov. 16.
Underf the transition plan, which Franchise Foodservice presiden and CEO James Purcell said was facilitated bythe company' filing for a Voluntary Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors -- a form of bankruptcyu -- the company expects to complete the transitiom to McLane no later than Nov. 15. "Business realitiese caused us to conclude that this was the best course of Purcell said ina "This agreement allows us to protect our employeed and maintain service and suppliez for our customers." McLane Foodservice Inc. is a subsidiarg of billionaireWarren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., of Neb.
The transition agreement takes effect immediatelt and will provide payment to the majority of supplierds for product purchased by Franchis Foodservice during the transitiob period and provides coordinated efforts to allow Franchiser Foodservice to continue customer servicesw duringthis transition. The agreement also calls for McLanr to consider positions for current Franchiswe employees who meetemployment qualifications. Franchise Foodservice now has 111 McLane operates 18 distributioncenters nationwide, including one in Sturtevant.
McLane Foodservice provides distribution serviced throughout theUnited States, delivering food and nonfood productsa to more than 20,000 restaurants across the country, including Pizzza Hut, Taco Bell, Quizno's and KFC.

Auto company bankruptcies may make lenders 'gunshy' - bizjournals:

nautical-different.blogspot.com
Many Republicans, meanwhile, want out of the car at the neares exit. Some turnaround specialists are concernedthe government-guided bankruptcuy reorganizations of Chrysler and GM coulfd make it harder for companiezs to obtain capital in the future. In these cases, the labor union, the United Auto Workers, received more favorablwe treatment thanthe companies’ secured creditors. This violate s well-established bankruptcy law principles, said Peter Kaufman, president of LLC’ s restructuring practice in New York. The United Statees is the most welcoming place in the worlefor capital, particularly for loans, he because “everyone knows what theid down side is.
” “Now that has all been stood on its ear,” he said. “A t a time when the countrh needs capital providers morethan you’re going to find institutiona with their hands in their or they’re going to be charging a lot more,” Kaufmajn said. Half of the turnaround experts surveyes by the thoughtthe government’e decision to elevate unsecure d creditors over secured creditors in the Chrysler bankruptcy will make secured loans more More than one-third thought it woulcd make lenders less inclined to make these An online survey conducted by the foundr that 76 percent of respondents “disagreed with the Obama administration’zs engineering of the Chrysled bankruptcy.
Kaufman contends capital providers will be especially leery of situations where there are unions and a conceivable governmentpolicyh interest. That’s “going to be a systemiv issue ona going-forward basis,” he said. Other experts, contend the government’s decision to intervene in theauto makers’ cases won’ serve as a precedent for futurw corporate bankruptcies. In the current economic environment, no politiciajn was going to let Chryslerf andGM fail, said Stephen a law professor at Seton Hall Universityh who specializes in corporate debt and financial distress.
The cases may make lenderws “gun shy” in the short run, Lubben but “eventually people will come around to the that these were special cases like that of Penn whose 1970 bankruptcy led to the creationof . Mark a partner with in New York, said the federal government “used its power to broker a settlement for the greater good ofthe economy. However, if the bankruptct process is going to continue to be the basisx for corporate restructuringsand liquidations, it must be perceived as fair and Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the , said he will watcb closely to see if government officials and the UAW intervenee in business decisions made by Chrysler and GM.
“Wed will expose and fight any counterproductive influencby government, unions or politicians over decisions that should be left to management,” Donohue said in a statemenrt issued after President Obama announced the U.S. governmenyt would own 60 percengof GM. “And we will continuallyh insist that government reduce and eliminate its ownership stakwe as soonas possible,” Donohuse said. Obama said his goal “ix to get GM back on its feet, take a hands-ofgf approach and get out quickly.” “The federal government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamentaklcorporate decisions,” Obama said.
“When a difficul decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plantt or what type of new carto make, the new GM, not the Unitedf States government, will make that decision.” Some Republicans, think the Obama administration and Congress won’t be able to resistg meddling in the business decisions of a government-owner GM. They’ve proposed legislation that would convertthe government’s stak in GM to sharews of stock that would be distributed to U.S. taxpayers. Sen. Lamadr Alexander pointed to the June 3 Senatw hearing where GM and Chryslert executives were grilled for nearly four hours abour their decisions toclose dealerships.
“They didn’t have much time yesterday to design, builfd or sell cars and trucks,” Alexander said June 4. “Unless we get the stock out of the hands of Washington, this scene will be repeated over and Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., has proposed legislation that wouldc require congressional approval before the federal government could use Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to make equity investments inany company. “I’m perplexee that we would allow government to take over privatindustry — with zero checks and Johanns said.
“I’m profoundly concerned the unprecedented government interferencd will cause irreversible changews to the capitalistic platform our grea t economy wasbuilt upon.”

Ice, snow wreaks havoc from Texas to New England - NECN

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Ice, snow wreaks havoc from Texas to New England NECN ST. LOUIS (AP) â€" The massive storm stretching diagonally across the country is living up to the hype. Layers of dangerous ice and blowing snow are closing ... and more »