NJBIZ back issues from May 2007:
Taking on the Retail-Space Challenge
May 07, 2007; ... HOBOKEN Businesses and brokers face increasing competition in a dynamic sector With the highest per-capita income and population density in the nation, New Jersey has become a magnet for retailers and retail brokers seeking to expand their presence in the state. But both ...
NBC May Bring New Jobs Here
May 07, 2007; ... STATEHOUSE Execs eyeing tax-credit bill for digital-media ventures As the saying goes, timing is everything. At a news conference last week, NBC executive John Eck sat with state Sens. Paul Sarlo (DBergen) and Joseph Kyrillo s (R-Mon-mouth) as the pair announced they were ...
Roller Derby Tries to Skate Up a Comeback
May 07, 2007; ... MORRI STOWN The sport launches a grassroots effort that is gaining fans in the Garden State T hings looked grim for the Hub City Hellrazors as they thundered around the rink in Kendall Park. It was Hub City's April 29 season opener against the Western Mass Destruction (WMD) from ...
McCarter Stays Put
May 07, 2007; ... McCarter & English LLP has signed on for 15 more years at Four Gateway Center in Newark. It will continue to lease 143,000 square feet of space for its headquarters at the 327,000-square-foot office tower. Its current lease is due to expire next year. McCarter, which was founded in Newark in ...
New Boss at Sarnoff
May 07, 2007; ... One of New Jersey's premier R&D centers has a new boss: Don Newsome was named CEO and president of Sarnoff Corp. in Princeton effective May 10. Sarnoff develops electronic and video technologies. Newsome, a retired rear admiral and former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy ...
To Tell the (Whole) Truth
May 07, 2007; ... Cigna HealthCare of New Jersey and an affiliate last week fell afoul of the state's Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI), which accused the companies of steering small businesses "into products with substantially reduced benefits." DOBI fined them $500 for each of 4,246 violations, or $2.1 ...
Taking Stock of the Surging Market
May 07, 2007; ... The recent run up in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which thundered past the 13,000 mark late last month, has apparently spurred companies to step up their activity in the public-equities market. Just last week at least four New Jersey businesses across a spectrum of industries launched ...
Executives Give Thumbs Up to the Garden State
May 07, 2007; ... It costs a lot to run a business in New Jersey, but the state's high-quality work force and proximity to major markets like New York City appear to make it worthwhile, according to a business Climate survey released last week by KPMG. The CPA firm reports that 77 percent of the 1 07 ...
It Is a Heck of a Town
May 07, 2007; ... Kushner Cos., based in Florham Park, has its sights set on the Big Apple. The privately held real estate firm has put up a portfolio of 18,500 residential units - 70 percent of which are in New Jersey - for sale, as part of a decision to shift its focus to New York City. The apartments could ...
Crackdown On Cheats
May 07, 2007; ... Hospitals that provide patients with free or subsidized care would be penalized if it turned out that some recipients did not meet the financial qualifications for such aid under legislation unveiled last week by Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. The state picks up part of the tab for ...
CORRECTIONS
May 07, 2007; ... Michael Goldman and Scott Testa have joined the accounting firm Friedman LLP as partner and principal, respectively. The April 30 Who's News section incorrectly reported they joined Schwartzbard and Goldman, which recently merged with Friedman. The ...
This Settlement Gnaws at Business Leaders
May 07, 2007; ... CAMDEN Rent-ACenter agrees to a $109 million payout for Garden State resident A NATIONAL rent-to-own company agreed last week to settle a Camden resident's putative class-action lawsuit for $109 million. Although the case, Hilda Perez v. Rent-A-Center Inc., focused on the ...
Startup Casino Company Bets on Atlantic City
May 07, 2007; ... ATLANTIC CITY Revel Entertainment plans a resort that would stand taller than the Borgata A NEWLY FORMED COMPANY says it plans to build a "spectacular" casino resort on the boardwalk that will be the tallest in Atlantic City and cost considerably more than the $1.1 billion it ...
Call for Tighter Ethics in Advertising
May 07, 2007; ... NEWARK Professor wants more transparency from drugmakers ANAUDIENCE OF about 50 people, most of them academics, gathered last week at the Rutgers Business School in Newark to hear an ethics professor explainandcondemnthe direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising practices of ...
Bisys Takes a Buyout
May 07, 2007; ... ROSELAND The $1.47 billion deal is part Of Citigroup's focus on hedge funds BISYS GROUP INC. last week chose Citigroup Inc. from among 142 suitors. The financial-services outsourcing company agreed to be acquired for $1.47 billion. The 18-year-old Bisys provides ...
Mack-Cali Earnings Take a Step Back
May 07, 2007; ... EDISON First-quarter profits fall as construction and operating costs largely offset a hefty gain in revenue DESPITE A HEALTHY rise in revenue, MackCali Realty Corp. announced last week that its first-quarter results fell by 42 percent to $19 million, compared with $33.1 million ...
A Supreme Challenge to Patents
May 07, 2007; ... Our Point of View Last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning patent protection in a case involving automotive gas pedals could hit the New Jersey pharmaceutical industry hard. The unanimous ruling held that the innovation in question was too "obvious" to warrant the exclusivity ...
Taxing Foreign Profits Hurts Employment
May 07, 2007; ... Board of Contributors BEFORETHE STATE Senate's Budget Committee, Gary Rose, the Corzine administratioris economic development czar, recently described his plans for attracting new businesses to New Jersey and for encouraging existing businesses to expand here. Those plans, however, ...
McCarter Says There's No Place Like Home
May 14, 2007; ... NEWARK Delays in a $500 million complex cause the big law firm to stay put Stung by delays in a construction timetable, McCarter & English, the state's largest law firm, has abandoned a move to a proposed riverfront office tower seen as part of the city's downtown ...
Who Cracks Down on Charity-Care Fraud?
May 14, 2007; ... STATEHOUSE The state and the hospitals point fingers at each other THE STATE AND ITS 80 acute-care hospitals are sharply divided over who should be responsible for catching patients who lie about their income in order to qualify for some of the $1.6 billion in hospital charity ...
Shelhigh Defies the FDA
May 14, 2007; ... UNION Company refuses to recall implants the agency says may not be sterile Embattled heart- valve maker Shelhigh was fighting on two fronts last week as the company faced a U.S. Attorney's complaint while defying a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) request that it voluntarily ...
Bands of the Rising Sons
May 14, 2007; ... George Foreman Jr. and George III, sons of former heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman, are stepping into the ring of the Garden State music business. They are launching an independent record label with Brilliant Entertainment Inc. in Medford Lakes, a company founded in January. Last ...
Center Fights a Big Deposit on Its Board
May 14, 2007; ... A tug -of- war between Center Bancorp Inc. and investor Lawrence Seidman escalated last week when the financial institution retained an adviser to explore "strategic alternatives" that could include a sale of the Union-based company. Center Bancorp is the parent company of Union Center National ...
A Flowering Of Open Space
May 14, 2007; ... The Garden State Preservation Trust last week approved $147 million in grants to preserve farmland, open space and historic sites and create urban parks and greenways across the state. Farmland and open-space preservation won the bulk of those grants at $97 million; the state's Green Acres ...
FDA Reform Glass Is Half Full
May 14, 2007; ... U.S. senators, in a 93-to-l vote, passed a bill last week that would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority to track and regulate drugs before and after approval. But consumer advocates viewed the vote as at least a partial victory for the drug industry because of squashed ...
Newcomers from Other States Creating Jobs in South Jersey
May 14, 2007; ... 'They make the best hot dogs!" said an attendee at last week's South Jersey Economic Growth Forum in Mount Laurel. He had just heard Caren Franzini, CEO of the state's Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), talk about how her agency had won over Dietz & Watson Inc., the Philadelphia-based ...
A Call For Stiffer Fines on Polluters
May 14, 2007; ... Companies that pollute would face higher penalties under legislation proposed by a group of Democratic lawmakers last week. The legislation calls for penalties assessed by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to rise from $1,000 to $50,000 per day. The bill is also ...
Curtiss Goes Nuclear With Scientech
May 14, 2007; ... Curtiss- Wright Corp. in Roseland acquired Scientech LLC in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for $57.8 million. Curtiss -Wright makes motion and flow-control ...
They'll Make It Up In Volume
May 14, 2007; ... Harvey Electronics Inc. of Lyndhurst has agreed to acquire Myer-Emco Inc., a privately owned electronics retailer based in Gaithersburg, Md. Both companies sell and install high-end audio-video systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Should the deal go through, Harvey would run 19 ...
Employers Say 'No' to Mental Health Mandate
May 14, 2007; ... Business advocates are vehemently opposed to a state bill that would likely increase already skyrocketing health insurance premiums . The bill (A-25 12/S-807) would require insurance companies to offer the same level of coverage for treatment of mental health problems and drug abuse as they do ...
Calling for Programming Changes at WWOR
May 14, 2007; ... SECAUCUS A citizens' group urges regulators to deny the station's application to renew its license A LOCAL GROUP IS demanding that WWOR-TV 9 in Secaucus give more airtime to New Jersey news and issues as the Fox Television-owned station approaches its June 1 license -renewal date ...
A Retailer's Riches to Rags Story
May 14, 2007; ... HAWTHORNE After a hefty loss last year, a crafts chain files for bankruptcy protection A DOWNTICK IN THE $29 .5 billion do-ityourself crafts market appears to have helped push a Hawthorne crafts retailer into bankruptcy. Last week, the Chapter 1 1 filing of Rag Shops Inc. was ...
A $400M Tax Hike Could Be On the Way
May 14, 2007; ... STATEHOUSE The unemployment insurance fund is dangerously low THE FUND THAT pays unemployment benefits to New Jerseyans has dipped so low that it is close to triggering an automatic $400 million-per-year tax increase to employers, according to David So co low, commissioner of the ...
Neighbors Share Jobless Fund Woes
May 14, 2007; ... Here's some possibly comforting news: New Jersey isn't the only state with a dwindling unemployment insurance fund. New York's fund is in debt, according to a study last winter by the Policy Research Institute for the Region, which was established by Princeton University and its Wood row Wilson ...
Worried Business Winner
May 14, 2007; ... WEST BERLIN Child-care center owner struggles with state funding LEEANNA ROMÁN made history last week as the first Hispanic -American woman to be named the New Jersey Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Román is CEO of Providence ...
An Encouraging Drug Compromise
May 14, 2007; ... Our Point of View THE IMPACT OF Merck's 2004 recall of the painkiller Vioxx reverberated in Washington, D.C., last week when the Senate voted 93-1 to strengthen the FDA's enforcement powers. The landmark bill, which now goes to the House, gave the agency increased oversight over ...
Businesses Must Do More Innovating
May 14, 2007; ... Board of Contributors SOME GOOD and bad news for New Jersey innovators. The good: New Jersey was recently listed in Inc. magazine as the second most innovative state in the country when considering education of work force; number of startups and growth firms; level of R&D spending; ...
New Leader Sets Goals for State's Largest Lawyer Group
May 14, 2007; ... Lynn Fontaine Newsome The New Jersey State Bar Association in New Brunswick, the state's largest body representing lawyers, has tapped Lynn Fontaine Newsome, 50, as its president-elect. She is a partner at the Morristown law firm of Donahue, Hagan, Klein, Newsome & O'Donnell ....
Letters
May 14, 2007; ... Get Serious about Solar Rebates In the April 23 NJBIZ Interview, [New Iersey Resources CEO] Lawrence Downes discussed Gov Ion Gorzine's goal of reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and the company's plan to similarly reduce its carbon footprint by then. One way to reduce the ...
Revive the Old With the New
May 14, 2007; ... SOMETHINGS capture the imagination better when repackaged. Ed Delia, president of marketing firm Delia Associates in Whitehouse, sees the fiision of existing products and brands with new technology as a way to kick up interest in a company's offerings. "Take a brand concept and ...
Spotting the Holes in Due-Diligence Reviews
May 07, 2007; ... A crucial aspect of the red-hot mergers and acquisitions market is the due diligence that companies perform prior to inking deals. Yet a survey released last week by the Roseland-based accounting firm J.H. Cohn found that even as companies steam ahead with M&As, executives are worried about ...
A Fresh Perspective on Selling
May 07, 2007; ... The Bottom Line Question: Why is selling such a difficult "game" to master? Adubato: Well, first we must consider that there are many different approaches to selling. Bookstores are filled with shelves of "how to" books on sales. But what often gets missed in the "art of selling" ...
Worker Training With Real Juice
May 07, 2007; ... FOUR YEARS AGO, when utility firm Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) of Newark faced the prospect of a talent shortage, it launched a pilot energy-utility technology program in partnership with Mercer County Community College in West Windsor. That has since grown to include four more ...
Eased into the Work Force A Single Step at a Time
May 07, 2007; ... Vocational rehab centers address a wide range of needs THE HIGH POINT OF Maria DeSeno's job is when somebody her center has trained lands - and keeps-a real job. "The biggest satisfaction is when they are able to retain their jobs," says DeSeno, manager of employment services at ...
State Sharpens Focus on Skills for Select Industries
May 07, 2007; ... The Labor Department is building training and development partnerships NEW JERSEY PRIDES ITSELF on having a highly educated work force and pitches the claim to companies thinking of locating here. As part of the effort to ensure the state stays competitive, Gov. Jon Corzine last year ...
Out of Work? These Folks are Eager to Help
May 07, 2007; ... Industry Report BILL WEIGHTMAN, 59, must love his job-or jobs. A 37-year veteran of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, he is administrator of the One-Stop Career Centers for Sussex and Warren counties. In a dawn-to-later-than-dusk schedule, Weightman shuttles among ...
State Steps up to Help Train Workers for Hot Jobs
May 07, 2007; ... Industry Report OVERALL, payrolls in New Jersey increased by almost 5,000 jobs in March, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Of these, 1,500 were added in education and health services, 700 in leisure and hospitality and 600 in transportation and ...
Who's News
May 07, 2007; ... Accounting Lilibeth Hanlon has joined SolomonEdwards-Group LLC in Roseland as senior manager with the firm's New Jersey Business Consultants and Accountants team. She will lead the enterprise risk management service line. Hanlon brings more than 20 years of accounting experience to her ...
Scene
May 07, 2007; ... 1 HEADED FOR WALL STREET The Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University recently won the New York Society of Security Analysts' Investment Research Challenge for the second year in a row. Pictured are Stillman students Angelo Stracquatanio, Theresa Ko, William Moore, Megan Joseph and ...
North: New M.B.A. Options
May 07, 2007; ... WAYNE Students attending William Paterson University to earn their master's degrees in business administration will be offered three new specialties this fall: accounting, finance and music management. The accounting and finance specializations are designed to prepare students for exams ...
North: Campus Renewal
May 07, 2007; ... NEWARK The New Jersey Institute of Technology campus is getting a partial makeover. The science and technology university has hired the Parsippany office of Jones Lang LaSaIIe, a Chicago-based real estate services firm, and Elkus Manfredi Architects, a Boston-based architectural firm, to design ...
Central: Times Co. Buys and Sells
May 07, 2007; ... EDISON The New York Times Co. last week struck an unusual deal to rid itself of an expensive lease obligation on its Edison printing plant site that would have run until 2018. The company leased the 1.4-millionsquare-foot facility 20 years ago, committing to "above-market" rent increases that it ...
Central: Curing Sender's Remorse
May 07, 2007; ... RED BANK BigString Corp. received $800,000 from a group of five private investors last week. The company provides an e-mail service that allows senders to render outgoing messages neither savable nor printable. It also allows senders to recall or erase messages that have already gotten to the ...
South: Gaming Power
May 07, 2007; ... FOLSOM Marina Energy, a subsidiary of energy holding company South Jersey Industries, and joint venture partner DCO Energy in West Atlantic City entered into contract with Boyd Gaming to develop, own and operate an energy center for Boyd's $4 billion Echelon Place hotel and casino under ...
Coldwell Sets Up Shop In a Virtual Community
May 14, 2007; ... The online world of Second Life becomes a new platform for reaching prospective real-world home buyers YOU MAY NEVER HAVE DRIVEN through the community of Second Life - or even heard of it - but Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. thinks it's a promising enough market for the Pars ipp any ...
Greeks Bearing Licensing Deals
May 14, 2007; ... Companies team up with fraternities and sororities to tap a huge market AH, THE GOOD OLD DAYS of Greek life at college: the teamwork, the parties, the marketing agreements. Fraternities and sororities, whose millions of members often stay in touch through their respective ...
Reverse the Power of Negative Branding
May 14, 2007; ... GUEST COLUMN Your company is always sending a message-smart firms work to make sure it's not 'go away' JUST AS GOOD branding is key to growing any type of business, negative branding will sink a business in virtually no time. It's just one of those basic facts of life: Bad news ...
The Growing Importance of PR and Its Women Practitioners
May 14, 2007; ... Industry Report "THE EMERGENCE of PR as a branding tool is not so much a revolution as an evolution," says John Lonsdorf, president of Bridgewater's R&J Group. He says the public relations industry is continuously transforming in terms of its clientele, company value and its ...
Who's News
May 14, 2007; ... FOR THE RECORD Banking Giuseppe Cascio has been promoted to assistant treasurer/branch manager of Lakeland Bank's Englewood office. He had been serving as an assistant branch manager of the bank's Wyckoff office for three years. Cascio earned a degree in language and tourism from ...
Calendar
May 14, 2007; ... May 15 Tuesday 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. From Startup Entrepreneur to CEO. ACG-NJ. The Hilton at Woodbridge, 120 Wood Ave. S., Metropark, Woodbridge, Iselin. (908) 889-8847. 15 Tuesday 8 a.m. Marketing in Newspapers: What to Avoid and Always Remember. Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce ...
Scene
May 14, 2007; ... 1 MENTORING ACHIEVERS Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. held its annual mentoring event in East Hanover for minority teens from the Summit Area YMCA's Black and Latino Achievers program. Pictured are Rachel Constant and Kevin Aguilar, students at Summit High School, and Bruni Cortes, a Novartis ...
North: Bigger and Brighter
May 14, 2007; ... DENVILLE The Solar Center (TSC) has increased its wattage. The solar-energy systems company announced last week that it has acquired all of the assets of Sun wave Enterprises, a solar- energy systems provider based on Long Island. The addition of Sunwave, combined with TSC 's existing operations ...
Central: Among the Good Guys
May 14, 2007; ... BASKING RIDGE There were a lot of smiles at Avaya Inc. last week, when the Basking Ridge communications services company was named to the "World's Most Ethical Companies" list maintained by Ethhphere Magazine. Other New Jersey companies that made the grade include Becton, Dickinson and Co. in ...
Central: Deal Back on Track
May 14, 2007; ... RED BANK A year-old buyout agreement between First Montauk Financial Corp. and a Richmond, Va. -based suitor that went sour has been settled, the securities brokerage firm announced last week. The deal calls for First Montauk CEO Victor Kurylak to step down fro m his post, though he will remain ...
South: Cautious Growth
May 14, 2007; ... LUMBERTON Lumber ton Township wants to revitalize an abandoned 8 -acre site on the town's main street, but will limit developers' ambitions, according to Township Administrator Daniel Van Pelt. He says an ordinance introduced last week could let a developer construct an office park; or long-term ...