Local pet-related businesses survive recession (Times-Dispatch)
At For the Love of Pete, a Carytown shop that sells many specialty pet products, sales declined last year but are recovering now, increasing about 30 percent this spring over the same period last year, owner Paige Guizzardi said.
ad blood boils at Planning meeting (Virginia Gazette)
Police were called to a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday night to avert a fistfight in the parking lot over a controversial shopping center.
Private-equity firms gamble on troubled banks (Virginian-Pilot)
Struggling institutions such as Hampton Roads Bankshares are attracting more and more attention from private-equity firms, which invest in turnaround efforts and other situations in hopes of earning greater returns than those available from routine stock-and-debt investments. Between January 2008 and the end of March, private-equity firms invested $19.6 billion in troubled banks holding federally insured deposits, according to the Private Equity Council, a Washington, D.C., trade group representing large private-equity firms.
Babcock & Wilcox: New nukes? (Roanoke Times)
Lynchburg-based Babcock & Wilcox and competitors set sights on “small modular reactors” as momentum builds for nuclear power.
Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price (NY Times)
Editor’s Pick. While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.
Doctors tack on fees for patients (USA Today)
A growing number of doctors across the country are boosting revenue by asking patients to pay new fees for services they say insurance doesn’t cover, insurance and physicians’ groups say.
Tony Hsieh: Why I Sold Zappos (Inc.)
With credit tightening and investors eyeing the exits, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was forced to ask: Was selling his company really the only way to save it?
Domestic Microfinance Steps into the Credit Breach (Business Week)
Small business owners who can’t get traditional bank loans are increasingly turning to nonprofit microlenders such as ACCION USA and Opportunity Fund.
Local pet-related businesses survive recession (Times-Dispatch)
At For the Love of Pete, a Carytown shop that sells many specialty pet products, sales declined last year but are recovering now, increasing about 30 percent this spring over the same period last year, owner Paige Guizzardi said.
ad blood boils at Planning meeting (Virginia Gazette)
Police were called to a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday night to avert a fistfight in the parking lot over a controversial shopping center.
Private-equity firms gamble on troubled banks (Virginian-Pilot)
Struggling institutions such as Hampton Roads Bankshares are attracting more and more attention from private-equity firms, which invest in turnaround efforts and other situations in hopes of earning greater returns than those available from routine stock-and-debt investments. Between January 2008 and the end of March, private-equity firms invested $19.6 billion in troubled banks holding federally insured deposits, according to the Private Equity Council, a Washington, D.C., trade group representing large private-equity firms.
Babcock & Wilcox: New nukes? (Roanoke Times)
Lynchburg-based Babcock & Wilcox and competitors set sights on “small modular reactors” as momentum builds for nuclear power.
Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price (NY Times)
Editor’s Pick. While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.
Doctors tack on fees for patients (USA Today)
A growing number of doctors across the country are boosting revenue by asking patients to pay new fees for services they say insurance doesn’t cover, insurance and physicians’ groups say.
Tony Hsieh: Why I Sold Zappos (Inc.)
With credit tightening and investors eyeing the exits, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was forced to ask: Was selling his company really the only way to save it?
Domestic Microfinance Steps into the Credit Breach (Business Week)
Small business owners who can’t get traditional bank loans are increasingly turning to nonprofit microlenders such as ACCION USA and Opportunity Fund.