Kohl's Creates More than 4000 New Jobs - MarketWatch (press release)

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., Sep 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today, Kohl's Department Stores /quotes/comstock/13*!kss/quotes/nls/kss (KSS 52.64, -0.04, -0.08%) announces the grand opening of 21 new stores across the nation and celebrates the opening of the new customer service and operations center in San Antonio, Texas that will serve Kohl's Charge and Kohls.com customers nationwide. The new stores will bring nearly 3,000 jobs to communities across 15 states, and the new customer service and operations center in San Antonio, which recently hired approximately 200 associates, expects to create more than 1,000 jobs over the next three years.

"We're pleased to be in a position to create more than 4,000 jobs as Kohl's continues to build market share in a challenging economy," said Kevin Mansell, Kohl's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We continue to bring customers new stores where they can enjoy Kohl's great brands and tremendous values. Additionally, we have invested in our existing store base by remodeling 85 stores, 66 percent more stores than last year, to keep the customer experience fresh and exciting."

Growth and Expansion

This year marks another year of growth for Kohl's as the company opens 21 stores today in 15 states -- Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania -- and opened a total of 30 new stores in 2010. The company now operates 1,089 stores in 49 states. Kohl's also invested in its current store base and remodeled 85 stores this year, a 66 percent increase from 2009.

In addition to investing in new and existing stores, the new San Antonio customer service and operations center supports the growth of Kohl's Charge business. The center also supports the growth of the company's Kohls.com sales, which experienced 48 and 38 percent revenue increases in 2008 and 2009, respectively and continues to experience significant growth this year. The facility is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified at the Silver level, and in keeping with Kohl's ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility, Kohl's will seek to maintain or expand the LEED designation for the finished building.

With this facility, Kohl's now operates three customer service and operations centers, including locations in Corsicana, Texas and Menomonee Falls, Wis.

World--Class National and Exclusive Brands to Stretch Your Budget

Kohl's stores nationwide and Kohls.com help shoppers stretch their budgets with world-class national and exclusive brands at a value they can appreciate. Some of the brands offered at Kohl's include: Levi's, Carter's, Nike, adidas, Bali, Simply Vera Vera Wang, Food Network, LC Lauren Conrad, ELLE Contemporary Collection, ELLE Decor, Dana Buchman, Candie's, Tony Hawk, apt.9, Jumping Beans, SONOMA life + style, Cuisinart, KitchenAid and more.

The More You Know, The More You Kohl's

Kohl's offers shoppers a variety of ways to get incredible values on the brands they love. There are no brand exclusions when using offers like Kohl's Cash coupons or Kohl's Charge card discounts. Additionally, these offers can be used in conjunction with sales events to maximize savings.

Every Kohl's store also offers a unique shopping experience which includes an industry-leading return policy, gift cards, gift registries, convenient store hours, centralized checkouts, the Kohl's Cares(R) cause program and a commitment to environmental responsibility.

Shoppers can take advantage of the company's key differentiators, including:

Power Hours, Early Birds and Night Owls -- During limited hours, Kohl's offers the lowest prices of the week on select items or categories. The amount of extra savings varies, but the Power Hours price is the absolute best price for that week. Kohl's Charge -- Kohl's Charge customers receive a number of exclusive benefits. In addition to receiving extra savings on their first purchase, shoppers also receive Pick-Your-Day shopping passes and special event discounts throughout the year. Kohl's Cash -- During a Kohl's Cash promotion, shoppers get $10 for every $50 they spend, which can be used toward a future purchase. It's like getting paid to shop! No Exclusions -- There are no brand exclusions when using offers like Kohl's Cash coupons or Kohl's Charge card discounts. An Industry-Leading, Hassle-Free Return Policy -- Kohl's has an industry-leading return policy that offers a quick, convenient and "no questions asked" experience. Customers returning merchandise with receipts or items purchased with Kohl's Charge cards are eligible to receive full refunds, while customers without a receipt will receive Kohl's merchandise credit.

Kohl's commitment to customer service has been recognized by the National Retail Federation, which for the past five years has listed Kohl's among retailers that offer the best customer service*. In addition, Kohl's has ranked among the top retailers in the University of Michigan's customer satisfaction survey for eight consecutive years**.

Kohl's Cares for the Communities We Serve

As a family focused, value-oriented company, Kohl's strives to be an active member of each community where it does business. Through charitable giving and volunteer programs for kids' health and education and environmental initiatives, Kohl's makes our neighborhoods happier, healthier, greener places to live and work. Kohl's supports local communities through its Kohl's Cares philanthropic programs which include:

Kohl's Cares Cause Merchandise Program, which sells special merchandise including books and plush toys for $5 each, and donates 100 percent of the net profit to benefit children's health and education initiatives nationwide. This year, the program celebrates its tenth anniversary, and since its inception in 2000, has raised more than $150 million. New this fall, special Kohl's Carescause merchandise supporting women's health is available online at Kohls.com. The net profit from the sale of this merchandise will benefit the fight against breast cancer. In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the Kohl's Cares philanthropic program, Kohl's Cares will give half a million dollars to 20 schools each this year, a total of $10 million. Kohl's Scholarship Program, which recognizes and rewards youth volunteerism. In 2010, the Kohl's scholarship program awarded more than $410,000 in scholarships and prizes to more than 2,100 kids across the country. Kohl's Associates in Action, a program where associates volunteer for local, youth-focused nonprofit organizations and Kohl's then matches their volunteer efforts with corporate grants. Last year, as a result of our associates' volunteer efforts, Kohl's donated more than $10 million to nonprofits across the country under this program. Kohl's Cares Fundraising Gift Cards, which provide an opportunity for schools and youth-serving organizations to raise money. The gift cards are sold by nonprofit groups and up to five percent of the total card purchase price goes to the nonprofit. Kohl's Cares Advancing Environmental Solutions Kohl's is also committed to being a leading environmentally responsible retailer. In December 2009, the company became the first retailer to announce a commitment to reach net zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2010 as part of its partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Climate Leaders program. To achieve this goal of being carbon neutral, Kohl's will continue to invest in projects to reduce the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the company emits into the atmosphere. The company was ranked as the number one green retailer on Newsweek's list of The Greenest Big Companies in America*** and was named one of the EPA's 2009 Green Power Partners of the Year. Kohl's is also proud to be the largest retail host of solar power in North America, with 100 solar locations nationwide. Key environmental initiatives for Kohl's include energy management, recycling and green building programs. To date, Kohl's has 84 stores nationwide built according to a prototype that received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) initial certification at the Silver level from the U.S. Green Building Council. In fact, 12 of the 21 new stores Kohl's is opening today are being built according to LEED Silver guidelines. Characteristics of these stores include: water-efficient landscaping, water-conserving plumbing, carefully managed construction waste and use of recycled and regionally sourced building materials.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Kohl's intends forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "anticipates," "plans," or similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause Kohl's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to those described in Item 1A in Kohl's Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, and other factors as may periodically be described in Kohl's filings with the SEC.

About Kohl's Department Stores

Based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., Kohl's /quotes/comstock/13*!kss/quotes/nls/kss (KSS 52.64, -0.04, -0.08%) is a family-focused, value-oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment. Kohl's operates its 1,089 stores in 49 states with a commitment to environmental leadership. In support of the communities it serves, Kohl's has raised more than $150 million for children's initiatives nationwide through its Kohl's Cares(R) cause merchandise program, which operates under Kohl's Cares, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. For a list of store locations and information, or for the added convenience of shopping online, visit www.kohls.com.

*NRF Foundation/American Express(R) Customer Service survey, NRF Foundation/National Retail Federation

**American Customer Satisfaction Index, University of Michigan Ross School of Business

*** "The Greenest Big Companies in America," Newsweek, September 28, 2009.

Editor's Note----------------------------------------------New store locations opening this fall include:September 29 Store Openings:----------------------------------------------Hoover, Ala. Collinsville, Ill.Prattville, Ala. Kansas City, Kan.Hanford, Calif. Louisville, Ky.Clovis, Calif. Blue Springs, Mo.Carson City, Nev. Covington, La.Porterville, Calif. Forest Hill, Md.Riverside, Calif. Cambridge, Minn.Sonora, Calif. Albuquerque, N.M.Lake Wales, Fla. Valley Stream, N.Y.Kent, OhioLancaster, Pa.York, Pa.Re-opening Store Location:----------------------------------------------Midlothian, Va.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6447284&lang=en

SOURCE: Kohl's Department Stores

Kohl's Investor Relations: Wes McDonald, 262-703-1893 or Media Relations: Vicki Shamion, 262-703-1464 vicki.shamion@kohls.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

View the original article here

VIDEO/PHOTOS The Alex Sink story: Humble start, business career, Florida governor? - Naples Daily News

Photo by LEXEY SWALL // Buy this photo

Chief Financial Officer for the State of Florida and Democratic candidate for Florida governor Alex Sink, center, is swarmed by journalists asking questions about the race for governor as she leaves the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, September 28, 2010 in Tallahassee. Lexey Swall/Staff

“I never in my life thought I would be a candidate,” Sink said in an interview with the Daily News. “I’ve always been interested in policy and the political process, and I’ve just been one of those who have supported my favorite candidates.”

TALLAHASSEE — This candidate has humble beginnings.

Coming up from nothing, with a family that struggled to balance the checkbooks, finally reaching the top of the business world, now the candidate wants to be Florida’s next governor.

By now, a lot of voters probably recognize that narrative as belonging to Republican candidate Rick Scott, but it turns out his Democratic rival, Alex Sink, shares a similar story of hard work and hitting the big time.

But while Sink, 62, the state’s current Chief Financial Officer, is working to make herself visible through statewide television commercials, many people are still in the dark about who she is.

“In Florida, we generally don’t know much about Cabinet-level officials when they’re in office, except for the governor,” said Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political science professor who specializes in elections. “Alex Sink is a newcomer to politics. She’s not a newcomer to the political scene, however, with her husband having run for governor himself in 2002.”

Her husband, Bill McBride, a Tampa attorney, lost a bid for governor to Jeb Bush, who won a second term in 2002.

Smith points to polls showing that some voters don’t even know whether Sink is a man or a woman. Alex is short for Adelaide, and for the record, yes, she is a woman.

Not just that, but if elected, she would be Florida’s first-ever female governor.

“I never in my life thought I would be a candidate,” Sink said in an interview with the Daily News. “I’ve always been interested in policy and the political process, and I’ve just been one of those who have supported my favorite candidates.”

* * * * *

Alex Sink was born in Mount Airy, N.C., where she grew up on the family farm. The Sink family grew corn, tobacco and soybeans, and raised hogs and cattle — “whatever my dad could make money at,” Sink said.

She attended Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C., majored in mathematics, and spent three years teaching in West African schools after graduation.

Together, those experiences of helping her father run the farm and teaching overseas became two of what she calls the most formative experiences of her young life.

Every month, she said, she sat with her father to write checks for the fertilizer bill, the gas bill, the machine shop bill.

Alex Sink Rick Scott Governor of Florida

“Then, he would have me add up all of the checks we had written to make sure we had enough money in the bank,” she said. “I thought I was learning about farming, but what I was really learning, is I was learning about small business.”

Fast forward 40 years or so, and Sink was the bank.

After moving to Florida 26 years ago, she rose to the top position in Bank of America’s Florida operations. She retired from banking roughly 10 years ago, and settled with her family in Thonotosassa, a rural area outside Tampa.

As Chief Financial Officer of the state, she draws a $111,000 annual salary, and in December, she reported her net worth at $9.2 million.

Smith, at the University of Florida, said this part of Sink’s narrative might not ring so true with voters.

“You know, being a millionaire banker is not something that’s going to allow voters to feel warm and fuzzy toward,” Smith said.

Then again, Sink is going up against a self-made businessman who listed more than $200 million in assets at the outset of the campaign.

* * * * *

Sink said she finally considered a run as Chief Financial Officer when several friends approached her five years ago and told her Florida was in desperate need of someone “looking out for our money.”

Much like her rival, Scott, she said she saw problems with the political system in Florida, and wanted to jump in and fix things.

¦ CLICK HERE FOR RELATED PROFILE Rick Scott: Get to work as Florida governor or go home to Naples?

¦ VIDEO Transcript: Daily News interview of Florida governor candidate Rick Scott

Coming from the business world, Sink said she was more than a little surprised to see just how state government runs.

She recalls when a glitch was discovered in the state’s accounting department early in her tenure. She said she asked to see the department’s last audit, in order to find out if the glitch had been caught previously.

It turned out the department hadn’t undergone an audit in 10 years, Sink said.

“Well, coming from a financial background like I did, I was stunned,” she said. “I could not believe there had been so little oversight over a department that, you know, wrote so many checks every year.”

David Clark, who has worked extensively with Sink’s staff as a Cabinet aide in the Department of Environmental Protection, said Sink brings a CEO’s mentality to running the state’s finances. Meanwhile, she has brought together a staff with diverse backgrounds, said Clark, who is set to enter Officer Candidate School with the U.S. Army.

“The staff she has around her epitomize her,” Clark said. “She’s brought in many different types of people from not only the public, but the private sectors, many different realms of business, from finance to communications. She’s surrounded herself with a very diverse group of people and it’s worked well for her.”

Candidate for Florida governor Alex Sink addresses attendees during a town-hall style meeting at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota, FL. on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors/Florida Press Association annual conference. BRIAN BLANCO/Special to the Daily News

“She really does proscribe to that economic perspective, from the stimulus, health care, these higher taxes, she’s very much in line with Obama, (Speaker of the House Nancy) Pelosi, Washington Democrats,” Scott campaign spokesman Joe Kildea said.

At the same time, said state Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, Sink has been able to bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats. It is something he has seen firsthand, particularly through his work as a ranking member on the Government Operations and Appropriations Committee, he said. It would be an important skill, given the fact that Sink would be working with a Republican-controlled Legislature, if elected.

“On a number of occasions, CFO Sink brought proposals to the table that Republicans supported,” he said.

It is this sensibility — an eye for business and a dexterity in state politics — that Sink promises to bring to bear if she is elected governor.

However, it is Sink’s experience in state government that Scott’s campaign wants to use against her. While it is hard to describe Sink as a career politician — a label that doomed Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, Scott’s opponent in the Republican primary — the Scott campaign is trying to tag her as a longtime insider who is in lock-step with President Barack Obama.

“She really does proscribe to that economic perspective, from the stimulus, health care, these higher taxes, she’s very much in line with Obama, (Speaker of the House Nancy) Pelosi, Washington Democrats,” Scott campaign spokesman Joe Kildea said.

In order to connect with independents and moderates, the Scott campaign believes Sink is trying to distance herself from Obama. She skipped a joint appearance with him at an August fundraiser in Miami. A pledge on her website to “work with President Obama’s administration” on Everglades restoration was changed to “Alex will provide the strong leadership that’s needed to expedite federal approval of restoration projects,” the St. Petersburg Times reported.

AP Photo/ Phil Coale

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum, left, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, attend the opening day ceremonies of the Florida Legislature, Tuesday, March 2, 2010, in Tallahassee, Fla. McCollum is Florida Attorney General and Sink is Florida's chief financial officer.

Sink has tried to turn around those efforts by Scott’s campaign, firing back with her own commercial accusing Scott of being fixated on Obama.

“You know what I’m doing? I’m running to be the governor of the state of Florida,” she said in an interview. “And so, that’s why when you look on my website, there’s nothing intentional (about the absence of Obama.) ... Florida desperately needs a governor that’s going to attack our Florida challenges, and think about Florida solutions as opposed to a candidate who seems to be obsessed just by Washington.”

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Sink’s campaign wants to frame her as one of the good guys who already came into state government as an outsider, and managed to shake things up.

They tout accomplishments such as her office’s shut-down of an annuity fraud scam that returned more than $1.2 million to seniors. As part of the same Safeguard Our Seniors initiative, she pushed for the passage of bipartisan legislation that would increase penalties for people convicted of annuity fraud.

And having a spouse who ran for state office — the same state office she is seeking — has some benefits, too.

Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Alex Sink, left, and her husband Bill McBride walk in the rain after voting in the state primary election Tuesday morning, Aug 24, 2010 in Thonotosassa, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

“Neither of us had ever run for office, and we sort of created that (2002) campaign at our kitchen table, literally,” her husband said. “Alex was very involved in that campaign. She saw the mistakes — and the good things, too.”

But, McBride also paints his wife as a systematic planner, and someone who makes things happen for herself.

“Her style is very collaborative,” he said. “She seeks a lot of information and a lot of opinions. A lot of collaborative people like that aren’t decisive. But, once she gets all of that information, she’ll make a decision and she’ll move forward.”

At the same time, Sink is still getting the hang of the politics game, it seems. While adept at taking questions in a structured setting, she falters a bit more amid a gaggle of reporters following a Cabinet meeting or press conference. She is still learning the political art of walking and talking, dealing with an onslaught of questions while being ferried from meeting to meeting.

At a press conference inside a Tallahassee job placement firm Tuesday, Sink arrived on a tight schedule between meetings to talk up her plan for tax breaks to new businesses and strengthening education to create more competent graduates. Workforce Plus, a job placement firm, sits in a run-down strip mall two miles outside downtown Tallahassee, where job applicants looking for work line the waiting room chairs.

Sink bypassed the job seekers without a word or a handshake, heading for the room with the television cameras and Republican state Sen. Alex Villalobos, who endorsed Sink the day before. She talked up her plans, before heading back out the door, again passing by the people she is promising to help.

But in an election season in which both candidates admit jobs are the top issue, and polls vary on whether Sink or Scott is ahead, every vote is going to count. It is a race that could turn out to be a matter of who you know, or rather, how well you know a candidate.

* * * *

Staff writer Ryan Mills contributed to this report

Primary Election Coverage:

Elections 2010 Page:

View the original article here

Census: Child health coverage rises in Illinois - BusinessWeek

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

CHICAGO

In the midst of an economic downturn, Illinois children were slightly more likely to be covered by health insurance in 2009 than the year before, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau figures.

The numbers suggest government safety net programs, including former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's "All Kids" expansion of coverage, are helping some children when parents lose benefits along with jobs.

The census data released Tuesday show the percentage of Illinois children with health insurance grew between 2008 and 2009, from about 94 percent to about 95 percent.

Macon County had the highest rate of uninsured children of the 23 largest counties in Illinois. The 2009 census data show nearly 14 percent of Macon County children were uninsured that year.

Among Macon County residents of all ages, about 15 percent were uninsured, the census data show, making it one of the highest county rates of uninsurance in the state, along with Cook and Kankakee counties. The overall rate of uninsurance in Illinois was 13.3 percent in 2009.

"We very much live paycheck to paycheck," said school bus driver Kim Bennett, 49, of Decatur in Macon County. "By the time we pay for everything, there isn't enough money left to get insurance."

The loss of manufacturing jobs in Macon County left many families without health coverage, said Barbara Dunn, executive director of the Community Health Improvement Center in Decatur. The county's high uninsurance rate for children will spur her health centers to be more aggressive in urging parents to cover their kids, she said.

"We are going to push them harder," Dunn said. "We're going to ask, why are they uninsured?"

Illinois was the first state to promise health insurance to all children. Blagojevich's expansion of insurance to illegal immigrant children and children whose family income is too high for traditional government insurance cost $70 million last year.

The children added under "All Kids" - about 94,500 children in 2009 - aren't eligible for federal funds, so the program's cost falls on state taxpayers.

The new census data show other states with child insurance rates as high or higher than Illinois. Massachusetts, the model for the new national health law, did the best with 98.5 percent of children insured.

Others with high rates of insurance for kids in 2009 were Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

In Illinois, depending on family income, parents can pay from zero to $300 per child per month for coverage under All Kids. A family of four making $72,000 a year can pay $140 a month for two or more children, or $70 a month for one child.

Some parents don't insure their children because they don't want to pay the premiums, said Dunn, who runs several safety net health clinics in central Illinois. Others neglect to do the paperwork or are embarrassed to sign up for a government program, she said.

At about 5 percent, Illinois' rate of uninsured children is far better than the national rate of 9 percent uninsured children in 2009.

"Illinois is proud to be among the top states in covering children, and is thrilled that the new data shows that 95 percent of all Illinois' children have health insurance of some kind," said Illinois Healthcare and Family Services Director Julie Hamos.

The figures come from the American Community Survey, which is sent to about 3 million households each year. The survey started asking about health coverage in 2008.

Nationally, the number of people covered by private health insurance fell from 201.0 million to 194.5 million from 2008 to 2009, according to the Census Bureau. The number covered by government programs climbed from 87.4 million to 93.2 million.

View the original article here

Ohio adds stimulus jobs, but it's a 'drop in the bucket' - The Morning Journal

By BRANDON C. BAKER
Special to The Morning Journal

Stimulus funds are making jobs, like this road work in Mentor, but the effect has been called only a 'drop in the bucket' for Ohio. (Photo special to The Morning Journal)

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act shares at least two similarities with other large-scale federal undertakings of recent years. Like the war in Iraq or health care provisions, the debate regarding its merit and the justification for its creation will likely never end. And, people will have to wait several years to definitively know whether the stimulus package’s goals will be fully or partially accomplished.

That latter parallel is especially painful for some Ohioans, given the second word of the $800 billion-plus package’s proper name. By far, jobs are the chief concern of citizens tracking the ARRA. Through June, or the end of the quarter with the most recent available data, the number of jobs in Ohio created by the act amounts to a little more than 15 percent of the state’s unemployed population.

Since the stimulus was enacted nearly 20 months ago, Ohio has created 91,726 recipient-reported jobs funded by the contracts, grants and loans awarded to employers. The state’s 25,896 new jobs in the April-through-June quarter of this year were good enough to rank the state seventh behind the likes of California, Georgia, New York and Virginia.

Though Vice President Joe Biden released a report defending the program in recent weeks, many have soured on the stimulus, including 52 percent of Americans polled in a USA Today/Gallup study this summer. Most economist estimates have the ARRA creating at least 2.5 million jobs since last February, but some deem the package less effective here.

In the most recent quarter, Lorain produced 32 new jobs and Elyria had a robust 136 jobs during the three-month period. But the job impact was much lower for many communities west of Cleveland. The same was true east of Cleveland, where Painesville, Euclid and Richmond Heights were the only municipalities with recipients reporting a total greater than a single-digit new job count.

Predictably, most of the jobs, along with the biggest awards, went to agencies near the center of the state’s bigger cities, especially Columbus, with more than 20,000 jobs last quarter. Cleveland created about 830 jobs between April and June with its awards.

“Looking at those numbers, that’s only a drop in the bucket,” said Patricia Hoyt, dean of Workforce Development and Continuing Education at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. “A lot of those jobs are seasonal, but are any of those jobs sustainable?”

It can’t be much of a surprise that smaller counties like Lake and Geauga would receive $62.6 million and $13.9 million, respectively, compared to Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties, which all received $400 million or better. Still, that money has gone toward jobs, infrastructure projects, educational aid, health care and energy and environmental spending that did not previously exist.

Here are a few awards given to public and private entities in Lake and Geauga counties, large and small. In some cases, all of the funds may not have been received yet.

• The Navy awarded Willoughby-based Pinnacle Construction and Development Corp. about $2.5 million for the demolition, minor asbestos abatement, architectural repairs, roofing, plumbing, lighting, HVAC renovation and construction and other modernization work at the Navy’s operational support center in Cincinnati. The firm selected a couple of small area firms for two of its sub-contracts. Russell Flooring Co. of Willoughby will receive $78,500, and Summit Painting in Eastlake will get about $1,000 more than that for its work.

Overall, 33 jobs have been reported for the project. A Pinnacle executive declined to discuss the award.

• The City of Mentor received $512,200 from the Department of Energy to retrofit traffic signals, street and parking lot lighting throughout the city with high-efficiency LED bulbs.

Mentor Public Works Director Matthew S. Schweikert said that money was presented to the city in spring 2009 for any projects it wanted to undertake that would conserve energy. The city has some funds left over to take bids for a boiler at its civic ice arena, but “a good chunk” of the funds went toward energy efficient lighting at the city’s 85 signalized intersections.

The city will do some of the installing but also contract some of the work, Schweikert said.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ARRA Capital Fund Program paid for the Geauga Metropolitan Housing Authority to renovate the parking lot and road surfaces at its Chardon facility, along with money to make various repairs at low-income housing facilities throughout the county.

The reward totaled about $432,000 and created about four jobs. The work is mostly complete, including replacing the building exit doors at Harris House in Chardon and replacing the exterior electric meter boxes at Cloverdale Estates in Middlefield and Strickland Arms in Bainbridge. The funds also covered concrete driveway and sidewalk replacement at Scranton Woods in Newbury Township and the administrative costs for the ARRA projects.

The projects were on the GMHA’s five-year plan, with some deemed shovel-ready, but the stimulus funding helped to expedite the process, said Mel Kirschnick, the agency’s modernization coordinator.

“You want to be a high performer, maintaining that status,” Kirschnick said. “HUD comes out every other year to look at our physical properties, and we get rated on that, and that’s part of a score that determines if we’re high performers or not. This parking lot, it was kind of an embarrassment before. That was really a project we were thankful to get done.”

One doesn’t have to travel far to see physical manifestation of the ARRA, as the familiar green signs with stimulus notation are scattered throughout Ohio’s interstates, routes and bridges.

“In Ohio, we look at the stimulus as something very important,” Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 spokeswoman Jocelynn Clemings said. “The governor and our director always say, where you see orange barrels, you should think jobs. It’s clear we’re putting people to work and folks who wouldn’t otherwise be working because of these dollars — not only people who we have on (construction) sites, but people behind the scenes, like haulers of materials, producers of materials, those who have a hand in fabricating, welding or doing things that you don’t see on a day-to-day basis.”

There were 11 ARRA-funded road projects between Lake and Geauga counties.

They are part of the $44.2 million share that the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency got from ODOT’s ARRA funds, NOACA spokeswoman Cheryl Onesky said.

The most expensive project is easily a Regional Intelligent Transportation System to include seven counties in the greater Cleveland and Akron areas.

The $21 million system will include traffic cameras and the informative, real-time highway message boards motorists have seen in other cities and states.

The cameras and radios provide the information for the boards and Web platforms that will give drivers an idea of congestion before they leave home or work. The system will be completed by the end of 2011.

“The system has been up and running in other cities, but ours is the best of the best, most updated and light years ahead of other systems,” Clemings said of the Dynamic Message Boards, manufactured by Brookings, S.D.-based Daktronics, which produces LED billboards and sports scoreboards.

That project is one of the 388 stimulus-funded transportation construction initiatives in the state, Clemings said. As of mid-September, 146 of those projects have been completed, including the $9.3 million rehabilitation of Interstate 271 from Wilson Mills Road to Interstate 90 and the resurfacing of State Route 700 in Troy and Burton Townships, worth $987,570 of ARRA investment.

Everybody, from the funding agencies to the recipients themselves, is aware of the criticisms of the ARRA and the perception that some of the projects are not important in today’s economically-depressed United States of America.

GMHA Executive Director Nancy Sadler knows those opinions will probably be coming her way as more people learn about the funds her agency received for the parking lot and facility repairs in Geauga County.

She has very different thoughts about the stimulus, at least as it affects her community.

“It’s actually brilliant when you think about it, for HUD, especially,” she said. “They’re actually dumping the money into their own federal assets.

They’re killing two birds with one stone: Supplying jobs and investing in their own properties. I really think that’s smart. It flowed just like it should have.”

View the original article here

How to find home health aide job listings - Helium

You can find home health aide job listings. 

One good place to find these job listings is at monster.com.  Go to their website.  Type in "home health aide" - for type of work that you are looking for.  Type in the city and state or zip code -where you want the work to be located.  Press "enter."  A list of the available home health aide jobs will appear.  Either submit your resume and cover letter electronically to the companies, or apply in person.

Another good place to find home health aide jobs is at careerbuilder.com.  Go to their website.  Type in "home health aide" - for type of work that you are searching for.  Type in the city and state or the zip code - where you want the work to be located.  Press "enter."  A list of available home health aide jobs will appear.  You can submit your resume and a cover letter electronically to the company, or apply in person.

You can also find home health aide job listings in your local newspaper.  Go to the classified section.  Look under the jobs listing.  Look in the health positions available section.  When home health aide jobs are advertised there, they will state how you can apply for the advertised positions. 

You can also contact home health care agencies in the area where you want to work.  Call and ask human resources if they have an opening for a home health aide.    Nowadays, there are many home health care agencies.  Many of those agencies utilize the services of home health aides. 

Another good way - is to list your own advertisement in the local newspaper - where you want to work.  You can be a self-employed, home health aide worker.  List your advertisement in the newspaper.  Write a short, professional advertisement - stating your qualifications and your services.  Also, list your telephone number, so that people - who are interested in obtaining your services - can contact you. 

These days, there are many home health aide positions available.  This trend will continue for many years to come.  With many people in the U.S. reaching retirement age and living longer lives, home health aides are in demand.  You can work for an agency; or you can be a self-employed, home health aide.   

Learn more about this author, DLayne Lawson.

Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Add your voice

Know something about How to find home health aide job listings?
We want to hear your view. Write now!

Cast your vote!

Click for your side.

$('promo2').hide();

Featured Partner

Masons

Washington, D.C. Masons, members of the Free and Accepted Masons of Washington, D.C. Freemasonry is first and foremos...more

View the original article here

Stein says she knows how to help 'ordinary people' - Boston Herald

LEXINGTON - As a physician, Jill Stein says she grew tired of prescribing pills for people who could not afford them, so she left her clinical practice and decided to go into medical research and policy work to help improve the nation’s health care system.

Now, the 60-year-old says she is sick of politicians who promote solutions, such as business tax incentive programs, that only benefit the wealthy.

She says the focus of state government on corporate elites — instead of the working class — is what has motivated her to mount her second run for governor of Massachusetts as a Green-Rainbow candidate.

"Business as usual has not been delivering for ordinary people," she told The Associated Press during a recent interview at her home in suburban Lexington. "We are starving small businesses so that we can give to the big gorillas."

Stein paints her opponents — Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick, Republican Charles Baker, and independent Timothy Cahill — as three political insiders who care more about "arcane policy details" than the real needs of people across the state.

"They tend to spend a lot of time finger-pointing and calling each other liars," she said. "Who could care less?"

Stein is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Medical School. She has been an internist, medical teacher, author and guitarist. Her husband is a surgeon, and the couple has two sons — 27-year-old Ben and 24-year-old Noah.

In 2003, she helped found the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, a nonprofit focused on health care and the green economy. She has not practiced medicine since 2006, instead becoming something of a perennial candidate.

In 2002, she ran for governor; she ended up receiving 3.5 percent of the vote. She then ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2004 and secretary of state in 2006, but explained losing did not mean the campaigns were not successful.

"Change does not happen easily," she said.

If she were to be elected, Stein would have the state place more emphasis on creating green jobs. She would support public schools rather than pitting them against charter schools. When she gets to talking about subjects that she feels the most passionate about, like creating more home weatherization programs to reduce energy costs, she moves her hands emphatically and leans in to her audience.

Stein hopes her message connects with voters who are upset with the status quo, including tea party supporters. She says she sometimes refers to her coalition of supporters as the "Green Tea Party."

"We share the same feeling that we have been betrayed," Stein said.

Some political observers believer her campaign can siphon liberal voters from Patrick, since Stein espouses support for the legalization of marijuana and single-payer health care while opposing casino gambling.

So far, Stein has attacked Patrick for what she calls his failure to deliver results for the middle class.

"The governor pretends he is a friend of the ordinary working person," she said. "He is powered by big corporate America."

View the original article here

USF a partner in gene research lab taking shape near Naples - Tbo.com

By LINDSAY PETERSON

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 3, 2010

TAMPA - To the medical school dean at the University of South Florida, the future of health care lies in a big field about 165 miles south of Tampa, along the road from Naples to Immokalee.

It's a vision that started in Collier County, spread to a research lab in Maine, then attracted USF with an ambitious proposition: high-paying biomedical jobs, research breakthroughs and a foothold in the emerging practice of personalized medicine.

"It's about creating a national model for health care for the 21st century," medical dean Stephen Klasko said.

A vice president with the Maine institution, Mike Hyde, let his rhetoric fly higher: "We propose a kind of Manhattan Project for health care," he said, referring to the World War II enterprise that led to the atom bomb.

USF and the private, not-for-profit The Jackson Laboratory have agreed to work together in what they're calling a bioscience village near Naples. Jackson would build it, then devote itself to finding personalized, gene-based treatments for today's most threatening diseases: cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

"This is completely different from the way we deliver health care today," Hyde said. "It's a game-changer."

Manhattan Project

But game-changers, particularly Manhattan Project-style game-changers, are expensive. And the returns are uncertain.

To build and set up its Florida lab and treatment facility, Jackson says it needs at least $260 million, which it expects to get from state and Collier County taxpayers. It plans to raise $120 million for the first few years of operation.

The Legislature has approved $50 million for Jackson, with a promise of $80 million more in the next two years. It hasn't been so easy in Collier County, home to both wealthy retirees in Marco Island and farmworkers in Immokalee.

Jackson is promising high-tech jobs - about 7,000 in 20 years - and a chance for Collier to become nationally known for its bioscience innovation. But some residents question whether that chance is worth the $130 million they're expected to produce.

Who's right is hard to say, said Daniel Vorhaus, a lawyer specializing in genomics research for Robinson Bradshaw in Charlotte, N.C.

"All over the country, all over the world," health care institutes are rushing into genomics and personalized medicine, he said. "Everyone is competing for the same opportunity, for the same investment dollars, for the same business, for the same knowledge."

Some will succeed. Some won't.

"It's not always better to put $130 million into something as long term as personalized medicine," Vorhaus said. "But you don't want to lose sight of what you can do if you take a longer outlook."

What angers Naples lawyer Anthony Pires, a critic of the project, is that the Jackson effort was well down the road before the Collier County Commission began talking about it this summer.

"There's been a lot more going on than was reflected in the public record," Pires said.

Early work was secret

Tammie Nemecek, president of the Economic Development Council of Collier County, conceded that plans have been in the works for a while, but said there was no skullduggery involved.

She has been at the center of the effort from the start, about two years ago, when she attended a meeting organized by a prominent couple in Naples, Leslie and Rainey Norins.

Leslie Norins had worked with Jackson earlier in his career and, in retirement, he and his wife decided to raise money for the lab.

Nemecek said the fundraising presentation she attended "blew me away."

Jackson isn't one of the powerhouse biotech institutes such as Scripps, a California research institute that opened a much-sought-after branch in Palm Beach County last year. But it's well-respected for its efforts to unravel the genetic underpinnings of disease.

Established more than 80 years ago to study the role of heredity in cancer, it has created more than 5,000 strains of mice used around the world to test gene-based treatments.

After the presentation in 2008, Nemecek said, she approached Jackson representatives and told them, "You need to move here."

For years, Collier's economic developers have been working to bring biotech businesses to the county. It became a priority when the Florida real estate market collapsed.

But when she suggested it to the Jackson officials, they "looked at me like I had four heads."

They were trying to raise money for the Maine operation, she said. But as time passed, they talked more with local and state economic development officials, who assured them taxpayers would help them build in Florida.

The money would come from the state's Innovation Incentive Fund, created in 2006 to lure Scripps and other research companies to Florida.

The centerpiece of the Jackson incentives included a donation of 50 acres from Barron Collier Cos., which manages the vast Collier family land holdings. The company has donated hundreds of thousands of acres for parks and schools, so giving land to Jackson is consistent with its practices, spokeswoman Dolly Roberts said.

But the donation isn't all philanthropy.

"We want Jackson Labs," Roberts said.

What Collier Cos. gets

Collier Cos. plans to develop the land around the proposed research and clinic complex, which it envisions will include homes, schools, a hospital and several private biotech spin-off companies.

Also nearby is the town and campus of Ave Maria, developed and controlled by Collier and Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.

With decades of experience in genetics, Jackson is perfectly placed to help lead the revolution in health care known today as personalized medicine, said Hyde, the vice president in Maine.

Personalized medicine is the practice of tailoring drug treatments to an individual, based on family history and genetics.

"It answers the question of why some people respond to treatment and some people don't," said Klasko, the USF dean.

"This isn't just a fad. It's real," lawyer Vorhaus said. "And it's extremely necessary. With the cost and limits of our health care system today, we really need to deliver medicine in a more efficient, less costly way."

Genetic tests are available for some diseases, such as breast cancer.

"We believe that in the next few years, it will be possible to develop very, very definitive tests based on your particular individual genomic profile," Hyde said. "Our ability to diagnose a disease when symptoms occur and treat it will all be transformed by this."

About the time Naples-area lawmakers were pushing through the bill to fund the Jackson project, word reached Klasko, USF's energetic medical school dean, who encourages entrepreneurial approaches to health care.

"We invited them down for a day," Klasko said. "They had no idea what we had."

USF throws hat in ring

They liked what they saw at USF Health's Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, where professors do basic research in neuroscience in the same building where clinicians work with patients.

"We're looking at a scenario (at Jackson) where USF and Jackson researchers would work side by side," Klasko said. "We could take basic research, translate that into drugs and translate that into clinical trials with humans."

He also envisions partnering with southwest Florida's Edison Community College and Florida Gulf Coast University to offer courses in gene-based health care, from genetic counseling to treatment.

Collier's Roberts said the company is considering additional land donations, possibly for a hospital.

But these ideas remain just that - ideas.

"We're very much at the conceptual stage" of working together, said USF's vice president for research, Karen Holbrook.

"We know we're going to have people on the ground in Collier, but at this point we don't know who or exactly what they'll do," she said.

USF and Jackson have signed a three-page collaboration agreement, but it doesn't include details of the relationship.

That kind of vagueness concerns Janet Vasey, a member of the Collier County Productivity Committee, which sized up the Washington Economic Group's report on Jackson's economic impact.

"They say they'll bring all these jobs, but they don't say exactly how," Vasey said. They say dozens of private biotech companies will relocate to be near Jackson, she said.

"We asked who? And we got no answer."

One company has announced plans to move to the biomedical village. That's California-based Athleticode, which uses genetic testing to identify whether someone is at risk for certain athletic injuries.

"We just have a problem with the rosy projections," Vasey said.

A big price tag

She and others have proposed that the county commission put the $130 million county allocation to a public vote. She also noted that the plan to raise the money with a bond issue means it will ultimately cost taxpayers about twice that much.

The commission voted down the proposal.

Jackson has submitted its proposal to Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development arm that has to sign off on the project, along with the state Office of Tourism and Economic Development, before Jackson can get money from the state.

After that, Collier County has 120 days to approve its $130 million share.

Hyde isn't worried.

"There's little doubt that this is going to happen," he said. "This is a smart investment."

People who question the project might not be happy over the next few years. They won't see much, except for some construction.

"We're not going to cure cancer or transform the economy tomorrow. That's not how this works," Hyde said.

"But my guess is that 10 to 15 years from now, people in Florida will be delighted that this investment was made."

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

View the original article here