The six-year plan released this week reflects last year’s priorities since nothing has changed.
Someday: Olde Towne Road will be straightened at the sharp turn in front of The Colonies at Williamsburg. When the timeshares were developed, VDOT gave up surplus right-of-way for buffers and The Colonies gave up land to fix the curve. The project will cost $2.66 million.
Croaker Road will be widened to four lanes from Richmond Road to the James City County Library. The project includes replacing a new two-lane bridge over the train tracks. The total project cost is $12.67 million, of which $984,211 is already funded.
Longhill Road will expand to four lanes between Route 199 and Olde Towne Road and get sidewalks. The road is already over capacity. The project will cost $11.8 million, with about $135,000 in hand.
County officials consider this project the most urgent, but Olde Towne and Croaker will likely reach the construction phase beforehand.
Racefield Drive would be paved under a project that sets aside money annually until enough has accrued to complete a project. So far, the county has $69,000 toward $177,600 needed.
Hicks Island Bridge over Diascund Creek will be replaced under a similar funding scheme. The bridge has a low sufficiency rating and has been pinpointed by VDOT as priority for replacement. The project will cost $726,000, of which $280,800 is funded.
The Board of Supervisors will review the priorities next week.
Want to go? The supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, in Building F of the County Government Complex, off Mounts Bay Road.
Xpress Money may use the UAE as trial market for transaction service - Zawya.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai The UAE could be one of two trial markets as the UK-headquartered payment services company Xpress Money makes a move into the individual to business (or business to individual as the case may be) transaction space. Its home market could be the other test market with the trials expected to start post-summer.
“There are very few payments facilitators who are already offering such a service capability and those who are got into it quite recently,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, who heads the regional operations at Xpress Money. “By getting in ourselves at the earliest we expect to narrow any advantage the others may have.
“As of now, we are trying to feel the market out by talking to institutional clients.”
Sources at local remittance houses reckon this is the way forward for the industry. Having institutional clients readily translates into substantial funds flowing through the remittance pipeline and that can only be a good thing for all industry players.
Xpress Money — which came into being in 1999 — only services individual to individual payments, with the UAE — where it has 350 locations operated by various exchange houses — and the GCC being one of its top transactional markets globally. Last year it entered the US and more recently Australia. The plans are to extend coverage to Latin America.
Widely rated
That is why the company wants to get into payment settlements involving individual to business and vice-versa. This category is widely rated within the industry as the next big thing.
Such services could be utilised to make an airline booking, whereby a customer can do the needful at a physical location where the Xpress Money service is available, or for a business to send salary contributions to outstation employees.
“We are formulating the systems and will also require having in place strict compliance practices,” said Giriyan. “Also, future corporate clients would need to be assured that we can provide optimum coverage through physical locations and that’s being addressed. We will also need to maintain bank accounts.
“It’s different to the typical compliance requirements for individual to individual and quite exhaustive.”
Not that remittance volumes involving individuals are showing any signs of slacking off. The estimated volumes last year through the GCC corridor were estimated at $76 billion (Dh278.9 billion). Saudi Arabia alone would account for more than $25 billion, enough to place it among the Top Three worldwide.
“But it’s still the US that is the biggest remittance market by far and the recession does not seem to have had any impact,” said Giriyan. “Last year it was estimated at $51.6 billion and it’s not difficult to see why — the whole of Latin America depends on individual remittances coming out of the US and so are many markets in Asia.
“China, India and Mexico remain the biggest recipients of remittance transactions, which goes to show that customer to customer volumes are not saturated. But customer to business opens up a whole new stream of opportunities.”
By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor
© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
Rancho Santa Fe's Democratic Soft Money Queen Dating Al Gore, says Washington Post - San Diego weekly Reader
Over the years, we've reported on the very big money that longtime Rancho Santa Fe denizen Liz Keadle has given to a vast array of Democratic causes.
One of few liberal political donors in the traditionally Republican zip code of 92067, Keadle has contributed to Democrats from President Barack Obama to Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa, John Kerry of Massachusetts, and their onetime fellow Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, along with former Vice President Al Gore's failed 2000 presidential bid.
Keadle was formerly married to multi-millionaire biotech maven Lyle Turner of Invitrogen fame; when we first checked in on them in July 2002, the couple was comfortably ensconced in a "Las Montanas Street mansion with a four-car garage and a pool on about four acres."
"It is in Democratic soft money where Keadle, who lists her occupation as biochemist, really rules," we noted.
"On June 27, 2001, for instance, she gave $120,000 to the Democratic National Committee's building fund. In November, 2002, Keadle kicked in another $25,000 to the fund, and on March 27 of this year, yet another $100,000."
"The new 90,000-square-foot building has long been the dream of DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who has vowed to collect enough soft money to build it before the recently signed McCain-Feingold campaign finance law banning such contributions goes into effect November 6.
"Both Republicans and Democrats have filed lawsuits challenging the soft money restrictions, but both are racing to collect as much money as they can in case the legal challenges fail."
Keadle was also pitched to help pay for a 2007 appearance by Al Gore at UCSD promoting his anti-global warming book, "An Inconvenient Truth."
"Of course, a chauffeured car was also necessary, but not just any old limo would do for the self-styled king of green," we reported at the time, citing the former vice president's deal memo with the university.
"The car will be a sedan, NOT an SUV," the memo said. "In addition, sponsor will make best effort to use [a] hybrid car for Vice-President Gore's transportation in the city of engagement."
Earlier this week, the Washington Post's Reliable Source column reported that Keadle, who has been divorced from Turner for some time, is currently Gore's main squeeze.
"The relationship is solid enough that she accompanied Gore, 64, and an eclectic group of experts and VIPs (Richard Branson, singer Jason Mraz, actor Tommy Lee Jones) on a trip to Antarctica in January to raise awareness of climate change," the Post reported earlier this week.
Added the paper: "Although sources close to Gore say she was not a factor in his split from Tipper, it appears they’ve moved in the same circles for years."
The Post also reviews Keadle's romantic ties to a young Democrat who once took on a GOP congressman here.
"After her marriage to Turner ended, Keadle was in a relationship with Nick Leibham, a young San Diego lawyer who in 2008 sought to unseat longtime Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.).
"Leibham lost, but his strong upstart campaign was boosted with an appearance by none other than Al Gore at one of his fundraisers. (Leibham declined to comment.) That same year, Keadle was one of California’s electors in the electoral college."
And what has become of her ex-husband? It hasn't been updated in a while, but Turner has maintained a website telling about his post-Invitrogen life's journey, saying he has gone "walkabout."
Runners raise money for Pitt Community College scholarships - WNCT
WINTERVILLE, N.C. -- More than 100 people came out for the Second Annual Bulldog Run today at Pitt Community College.
A few of 9 On Your Side’s reporters and anchors were there to help PCC’s Alumni Association sponsor the race. Andrea Blanford, Lindsay Landry and Rich Klindworth participated in the race, too.
The early morning event featured a 5-K run, a one mile fun run and a kids’ dash.
All money raised will benefit scholarships and educational activities at the college. Many runners say supporting students who are financially in need inspired them to participate.
“Pitt’s a very good place to get started at,” says runner Ron Duffett, whose daughter graduated from PCC. “And any kind of financial aid that they can get to get started like that is to our benefit, to everybody’s benefit.”
Runner Danny Ellis agrees, “It’s a really good thing. It gets me my chance to run, gets me my exercise. And I know some kid somewhere along the line hopefully it’s going help them in their life.”
Prizes were awarded to the top three male and female runners. Organizers say prior to the race, they raised more than $5,000 dollars for scholarships.
Business Community Keen On TPP Plan - Manila Bulleting Online
MANILA, Philippines — The business community is keen on the country's plan for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is led by the US, and urged government to conduct more information campaign about this new trading bloc.
Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., chairman of the Makati Business Club, told reporters at the sidelines of the Joint Membership Meeting of the MBC and the Management Association of the Philippines, they would like to see if participating in the TPP is in “our best interest.”
“My sense is that the government would not like to plunge into the TPP very early, but we need to know more about the TPP,” he said noting that in every trade deal there is always that give and take among members.
In his speech during the meeting where Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario was the guest speaker, the MBC chairman said the business community is interested in finding out if the Aquino administration has adopted a firm stance on TPP in the context of the looming full integration of ASEAN by 2015.
The business community was trying to get an assessment from Del Rosario if whether such international arrangements would be for the country’s interest.
“Moreover, the private sector would like to work with the administration toward tangibly contributing to strengthening our international standing and advocating genuine Philippine interests in the global stage,” he said.
Del Rosario noted that the TPP was discussed during the first ever 2+2 Ministerial Consultations between the US and the Philippines last April 30 this year.
During the meeting, US State Secretary Hillary Clinton has encouraged the Philippines to become part of the TPP.
At present, some ASEAN neighbors, particularly Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam are already negotiating to be part of this agreement.
“While there are a number of valid issues and concerns regarding our potential entry to the TPP, it nevertheless presents an opportunity to further promote investments into the Philippines and drive sustained economic growth,” Del Rosario said.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had said that it has been the policy to join a trade grouping where the country's major trade partners are also participants. In the case of the TPP, the US, the country’s largest trading partner, is a leading member.
The only problem though is that the TPP demands high standards of commitments on issues like environment and intellectual property rights that the Philippines may not yet have the capability to comply with.
Money market fund assets rose to $2.584 trillion - Yahoo Finance
NEW YORK (AP) -- Total U.S. money market mutual fund assets rose $350 million to $2.584 trillion for the week that ended Wednesday, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.
Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds fell $1.10 billion to $904.23 billion, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said. Assets of taxable money market funds in the retail category rose $240 million to $713.05 billion. Tax-exempt retail fund assets fell $1.35 billion to $191.18 billion.
Meanwhile, assets of institutional money market funds rose $1.46 billion to $1.680 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable money market fund assets rose $3.74 billion to $1.592 trillion; assets of tax-exempt funds fell $2.29 billion to $87.58 billion.
The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds was 0.03 percent in the week that ended Tuesday, unchanged from the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westborough, Mass.
The 30-day average yield was also unchanged from last week at 0.03 percent. The seven-day compounded yield was flat at 0.03 percent. The 30-day compounded yield was unchanged at 0.03 percent, Money Fund Report said.
The average maturity of portfolios held by money market mutual funds was unchanged from the previous week at 45 days.
The online service Bankrate.com said its survey of 100 leading commercial banks, savings and loan associations and savings banks in the nation's 10 largest markets showed the annual percentage yield available on money market accounts was unchanged from last week at 0.13 percent.
The North Palm Beach, Fla.-based unit of Bankrate Inc. said the annual percentage yield available on interest-bearing checking accounts was unchanged from the week before at 0.06 percent.
Bankrate.com said the annual percentage yield on six-month certificates of deposit was unchanged from the previous week at 0.22 percent. The yield on one-year CDs was also unchanged at 0.33 percent. It fell to 0.52 percent from 0.53 percent on two-and-a-half-year CDs. It was flat at 1.14 percent on five-year CDs.
Valley business on the brink - Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The lack of a plan across communities hampers development and mires daily life with traffic hassles and long slogs between housing, shopping and work. Development that does come may be haphazard.
“There are so many infrastructure issues that are coming to light now. Developers can go to another town and have it all ready,” said Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeannie Hebert, who spearheads economic development in the valley.
“What we're talking about here is (an opportunity for) development by choice, not by chance,” said Vera L. Kolias, principal planner for the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, or CMRPC.
CMRPC launched a Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project this spring, focusing on identifying economic development, transportation, workforce and preservation priorities in eight of 11 towns in the Blackstone Valley. Grafton, Upton and Hopedale were included in a similar project CMRPC recently undertook with the 495/MetroWest Development Compact.
Lawrence B. Adams, CMRPC executive director, said that coordinated, regional plans for development would be most likely to get state and federal grants that can make or break a project. “The state's role is to identify where their investments will have the best return,” he said.
CMRPC staff and partners from the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission are meeting over the next few weeks with planning boards and officials in Sutton, Mendon, Northbridge, Douglas, Uxbridge and Blackstone to target priority areas in their towns. More regional events, including a public forum to bring together the issues from each town, will be held in June.
While planners talk of traffic corridors, spot locations, expedited permitting and infrastructure — words that make the average citizen's eyes glaze over — it comes down to quality of life.
Job creation, for example, creates more travel and congestion if people don't have public transportation or housing nearby; and if you build housing, you have to provide for services that families who live in those houses need, explained Mr. Adams. At the same time, you don't want to harm the character of small towns.
These impacts of growth cross town lines.
Shopping is one of the regional needs both created by and affecting growth.
Cold Spring Brook Place, a mixed-use retail parcel that would include a grocery store and bank, has sat undeveloped along Route 146 in Sutton for a decade, an example of hurdles facing business development. Originally delayed by lack of water and sewer and the costly requirements for roadway improvements, and then a victim of the economy and the former developer's bankruptcy, the site may get a boost soon.
Two years ago, the state committed to funding $6 million to widen the road and improve traffic flow on that section of Route 146, removing one major headache from a new developer.
Jennifer S. Hager, planning director for Sutton, said a purchase and sale agreement was recently signed for Cold Spring Brook Place.
“It's basically about state funding,” Ms. Hager said about the benefits of looking at development from a regional perspective. “Now the developer doesn't have to shell out $6 million worth of improvements.
“The regional impact (of Cold Spring Brook Place) put it in line for funding, so the state gets the biggest bang for the buck. The (Blackstone Valley Prioritization) project will identify areas like that.”
Michael G. DeCaro, president and CEO of Classic Envelope Inc., has been counting on regional development support since he moved his business from the Whitinsville section of Northbridge across Route 146 to Douglas last month, a move that allowed him to add at least 25 new jobs. A crucial element to bringing in the infrastructure Classic Envelope requires, including natural gas, sewerage and larger water lines, is a plan to build a road between Gilboa Street, near his plant in the former Hayward-Schuster mill and Whitins Road in Sutton, across from the Sutton Industrial Park.
Once the road is built, “Then you get gas lines, sewer lines, you can bring in an industrial park and bring in jobs for people; hopefully transit, too,” Mr. DeCaro said.
The West Side Connector Road, as the plan is called, would open up 300 acres of industrial and office-zoned land in Douglas and Sutton, without changing the rural character of the towns. It has received preliminary approval from the Sutton, Douglas and Northbridge planning boards and conservation commissions, according to Douglas Town Engineer William Cundiff, but the towns are waiting for a cost estimate from consulting engineers. There are other pieces of putting together a multitown project that need to occur before grants can be sought, too, and the process, according to Mr. DeCaro, is frustratingly slow.
Craig L. Blais, president and CEO of Worcester Business Development Corporation, said his nonprofit organization has offered to work with the towns like it did with developing CenTech Park in Grafton and Shrewsbury. He said a project like this “needs someone to quarterback it, to get up everyday to pursue grants.
“That's one area that we could make a difference in.”
Mr. Blais said that having a regional development “roadmap” that is expected to come out of the Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project will be useful in grant requests to show that both private developers and local communities will benefit from a project.
“Coming into a community knowing that this process has occurred adds to predictability,” Ms. Kolias said. “Time is money.”
Ms. Hebert said, “This project is going to open doors to a lot of communities.”
CMRPC plans to conduct a similar project later this summer with 13 towns arcing around Worcester from Southbridge to Boylston.
A schedule of Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project public meetings can be found at www.cmrpc.org.
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Small-business lending record touted by Wells Fargo - Las Vegas Review Journal
Wells Fargo & Co. approved more than $548 million in Small Business Administration 7(a) loans nationwide in the first half of the federal fiscal year. The company announced the results Friday as it opened its annual Small Business Appreciation Celebration.
"SBA loans are an important financing tool for many small business owners and we want to do everything we can to help small businesses stay competitive and grow," said David Rader, head of SBA lending.
Wells Fargo also is the largest SBA 7(a) lender in dollars in 12 states for the first six months of the fiscal year, including Nevada.
SBA 7(a) loans are extended to qualifying businesses in a wide range of industries that in general have average revenues of less than $20 million and 500 or fewer employees.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
Technology Business Management—CIO Resource Planning" Focus of Forum - PR-USA.net
Mr. Mori is senior account manager and Mr. Wanek is senior application development engineer at Apptio, Inc. Apptio is the leading independent provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (<a href='http://www.apptio.com/tbm/index.php'>TBM</a>) solutions for managing the business of IT.
The emergence of Cloud and SaaS options have shattered the IT monopoly, forcing CIOs to become a competitive service provider and prove their value to the business. Now more than ever, CIOs require a technology business management system to run the business of IT if they are to keep their seat at the table. This perfect storm brewing in todays IT environment makes this event ideal for CIOs, consultants, programmers, application developers, managers, analysts, software engineers, enterprise architects and information technology professionals, as well as educators, faculty, staff and students in IT project management and computer or information sciences.
Attendees of the no charge event will learn how Apptio can:
1. Increase Visibility into the cost and performance of your services and applications to provide a comprehensive view into your fully loaded costs.
2. Identify Cost Reduction Opportunities and quantify the financial impact (ROI) of IT investments.
3. Effectively communicate the value that IT brings the business by delivering a Bill of IT to each line of business that reflects the cost, usage and value of each IT Service they consume.
4. Automate and align the Budgeting and Forecasting Process to IT Services to gain real time visibility into your budget variances by IT Service, plan for future demand, and proactively reconcile variances with your General Ledger before they impact your Profit & Loss Statement.
Seating is limited. RSVP at www.HarrisburgU.edu/RSVP
Contact:
Steve Infanti
AVP Communications
326 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
717.901.5146
Sinfanti@HarrisburgU.edu
http://www.harrisburgu.edu/
The Business Finance Store Highlights Considerations for Upgrading a Credit Card Terminal - Consumer Electronics Net
May 19, 2012 --
Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) May 19, 2012
VeriFones SAIL credit card swiper might be a little too close to Squares mobile technology, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. While VeriFones SAIL looks physically different, the agreement and usage terms are remarkably similar, such that Square might believe VeriFone copied their merchant agreement. Regardless of whether these VeriFone copied square, the news is demonstrative of the fact that credit card swiping technology is constantly changing. With constant changes in merchant terminal technology, small businesses might be wondering whether it is worth it to update. In the recent blog post Should You Upgrade Your Credit Card Terminal?, The Business Finance Store highlights some things to look for when considering upgrading a credit card terminal.
Technology is changing quickly. For small business owners, they might have a hard time keeping up. Changes in merchant terminal technology now allow customers to pay with a credit card just about anywhere with some of the other technologies that have surfaced. Read more about upgrading credit card terminal technology at The Business Finance Store Blog.
The Business Finance Store is a business financing and consulting firm that offers customized Business Financial Solutions. Seasoned professionals offer assistance in a variety of financial solutions to help small businesses succeed such as:Business Financial Solutions, Legal Solutions, and Accounting Solutions.
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The staff at The Business Finance Store understands that starting and growing a business is an exciting time. They keep it exciting by taking care of some of the most difficult aspects, by providing legal advice, helping with vital responsibilities like accounting & bookkeeping, and by obtaining business finance. They can quickly and easily guide entrepreneurs through many different complicated processes and put them on the path to success.
For 10 years The Business Finance Store has been helping startups and other small businesses legally structure their companies, find the right franchises, get the funding they need, and achieve the American Dream of owning their own successful business. Since expanding nationwide in 2007, they have helped thousands of companies and have funded over $60 Million in business credit lines, not including SBA loans. The Business Finance Store sees limitless potential in the current climate, and looks forward to many strong years of growth to come. Take some time to review their services, and give them a call.
For more information, or a free, no-obligation analysis of your business needs, visit The Business Finance Store website: http://www.businessfinancestore.com. A member of their professional staff will contact you to discuss your business' short and long-term goals. Whatever you need, The Business Finance Store is there.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9521467.htm.
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