| Small-biz group wants easier, less-costly access
A shrinking number of small-business owners offer health insurance to workers, so the National Federation of Independent Business wants the Tennessee General Assembly to help change the landscape. Tax incentives and an insurance pool were two ideas the NFIB's leadership advanced at its annual soiree for legislators. .
Some realtors tout green' credentials in tough market
Wouldn't you rather work with a Realtor who shares your values in environmental and social responsibility?" and sends its agents to environmentally friendly building courses. Last fall, Harry Norman Realtors in Atlanta had 48 Realtors certified by EcoBroker International, which educates Realtors on eco-friendly homes and marketing. Meanwhile, individual Realtors are carving "green" niches for themselves: Celeste Karan, of Keller Williams Realty in Chicago, started www.greenhomechicago.com, a site where she lists properties and promises "to help home buyers understand what truly constitutes a 'green building.' " Such agents say their knowledge of environmentally friendly designs and materials can help clients in several ways. First, the brokers will link interested buyers to homes that are built with eco-friendly features, like solar power and energy-efficient appliances.
Exploring Turkishness
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is given yearly to an American fiction writer. The 2006 award went to an author who spent quite a bit of time as a journalist in the Middle East, based in Cairo. Geraldine Brooks wrote Nine Parts of Desire, a book of non-fiction, which tells the stories of women around the Middle East and Foreign Correspondence detailing her experiences searching for her childhood pen pals around the world. A versatile writer, Brooks has since switched her focus from journalism to historically based fiction. She was awarded the Pulitzer for her novel March, which is set in the Civil War-era United States. March is about an army chaplain, whose character is based on the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. After leaving his family to do what he feels will be the right thing, fighting the good fight against the Confederacy, the idealistic character March becomes severely shaken and the moral dilemmas he faces begin to affect his ideals and his marriage.
Malibu Hybrid's minimal advantage isn't worth the cost
We have established that General Motors knows how to make a two-mode hybrid. Witness the Green Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, which utilizes a powerful electric motor in concert with an internal combustion engine. Still, GM continues to build its "mild" hybrids, using the belt-alternator-starter system, yielding in the Chevy Malibu a grand total of 2 mpg in city-highway fuel economy over the standard four-cylinder. This option costs a whopping $1,795 and could only be worthwhile if buyers put in for the $1,300 federal tax credit. To compare, a Toyota Camry Hybrid option costs $200 (over the four-cylinder XLE) and yields an increased fuel economy of 31 percent. .
Board approves service plan for HVAC system
The Forrest City School Board on Monday agreed to enter into a contract with a local company to try and ensure that the new HVAC system at the high school works properly. Following some discussion on the matter, the districts board agreed unanimously to a one-year maintenance contract with Store Services Inc., of Forrest City for a base price of $6,480. The contract requires SSI to perform quarterly maintenance on the system. Board member Ernestine Weaver was absent. The other bidder was Mohr Heating and Air Conditioning of Wynne. Architect Dave Hodges, who works with the school district on the HVAC system, explained to the board that a separate maintenance contract, in his opinion, would benefit the district. Basically, you would hire someone to get really familiar with the system and to check quarterly to make sure everything is working properly, said Hodges.
New Nike Sneaker Targets Jocks, Greens, Wall Street
The target audience for the latest edition of Nike Inc.'s landmark Air Jordan shoe is probably more concerned with its sleek styling than its carbon footprint. So when the Air Jordan XX3 is unveiled at the NBA All-Star Game festivities this weekend, sneakerheads probably won't pay much attention to what really distinguishes the shoe from its predecessors: the near absence of chemical-based glues and an outsole made of recycled material. The Beaverton, Ore., company's new sneaker is neither the first nor the only shoe in the industry to be touted as "green." For Nike, though, the Air Jordan XX3 is at the forefront of a broader effort that is intended to please not just environmentalists and jocks but also Wall Street. It represents a systemic shake-up of the company that is supposed to result in manufacturing operations that are both carbon neutral and cheaper.
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