Assisted living sites face legal challenges Sunwest Management CEO

In a last-ditch effort to save his company, Sunwest Management CEO Jon Harder placed himself and 14 individual assisted living centers — including Alpine Court in Eugene — into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In legal maneuvering that unfolded in the waning days of 2008, Harder sought an injunction to stop nine big investment banks from seizing the most profitable of the company’s nearly 270 assisted living centers across the country.
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Patient care not as good at for-profit nursing homes, analysis shows

For-profit nursing homes are more likely to provide worse care than their nonprofit rivals, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the government’s first ranking of nearly 16,000 nursing homes.
The new Zagat-like rating system, released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, assigns homes one to five stars for their quality, staffing and health inspections, plus an overall score.
The scores reflect tens of thousands of inspection Read the rest of this entry »

EMS Technologies sees 2009 profit above analysts

EMS Technologies Inc.
on Monday issued a full-year profit forecast above Wall Street expectations, saying it expects improving results across all its businesses.
The Atlanta-based maker of wireless communications technology expects per-share earnings from continuing operations in the range of $1.55 to $1.65 in 2009, based on accounting standards used in 2008 and prior years.
The bottom end of the company's expected profit range is just above Read the rest of this entry »

Ira Millstein’s Opinion Helped Steer Yeshiva’s Money to Madoff

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- A legal opinion from
, a corporate-governance specialist for four decades,
helped set the stage for
’s millions of dollars
in losses in the Madoff scandal.
Millstein, a senior partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, said
in a letter seen by Bloomberg News that Yeshiva had “followed
procedures adequate to prevent either the appearance or the
reality of a conflict of interest.” The September 2000 opinion
cleared financier
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Los Angeles-area small-business lender receives cash infusion

The Merrill Lynch funds are meant for microloans of $5,000 to $50,000, he said. Half the $1 million has already been tapped for loans. Merrill Lynch also gave the center a $50,000 grant to create a streamlined, computer-based loan approval process it hopes other microlenders can copy. The money will also pay for a new loan officer in the center's downtown L.A. office.
In addition to running its own loan funds, which are often set up by banks or Read the rest of this entry »

Online Journalism: Donations Accepted

Amid traditional media's bloodletting, nonprofit news outfits like Spot.Us are experimenting with community-funded journalism on the Web
The news business is in disarray. Thousands of journalists have been left jobless by deep cuts at
), Gannett (
), Viacom (
), and other large media properties. Small newspapers and trade publications around the country are shutting down operations, and many that survive have eliminated bureaus, reduced Read the rest of this entry »

Online court records a lucrative business

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Today marks the end of the non-bid contract between the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts and the Mobile-based company that provides technical support for electronic access to public court records in Alabama.
“We are currently negotiating a renewal contract with (On Line Information Services Inc.),” said Griffin Sikes Jr., AOC’s legal division director in Montgomery. “They are a private contractor which, working Read the rest of this entry »

Walgreen Profit Drops As Chain Cuts Store Opening Plan

Walgreen Co.
said Monday that its
first-quarter profit dropped 10%, hurt by store-opening and other costs. The
company said it's curtailing its store opening plan to free up capital in light
of the current economic conditions.
, or
a share, from
, or
, a year earlier. Sales in the quarter ended
Nov. 30
rose 6.6% to
$14.9
billion
with comparable-store sales increasing 1.7%.
Analysts, on average, estimated the company (WAG) would Read the rest of this entry »

Profit strategies program aids long-term success

Is your dairy positioned for long-term success? Not sure how to answer this question? Understanding the factors that limit profitability in different herd sizes and how shifts in management strategies can improve profitability can help you establish long-term viability in your operation.
"Profit Strategies," a Penn State Dairy Alliance program, will show producers how to select a business model that will position their dairy business to be more Read the rest of this entry »

Every company needs a viable online presence

Published: January 5, 2009
If your business does not have a presence online, better get with it.
Every business should have a Web presence, experts say. Increasingly that's where shoppers, competitors and prospective business partners can be found.
For $1,000 to $5,000, you can put your company online, either by yourself if you're savvy or by hiring a professional Web development team, said Hardy Koska, a counselor at Richmond SCORE, which advises Read the rest of this entry »