The Lane Report -- Fast Lane January 2000


	FAST LANE - January 2000 STATE Weak Prices and Auction Sales Add to Tobacco’s Plight ON December 1, files for over 167,000 tobacco quota holders and growers were handed over to Chase Manhattan Bank in order for them to receive checks at year’s end from the almost $109 million due them from the National Tobacco Growers Settlement Trust. This is the first year of the 12-year trust fund. The trust fund database will also be the basis of distribution of an additional $123 million coming from the Tobacco Loss Assistance Program plank of the recent Agriculture Appropriations bill. Kentucky tobacco farmers have suffered a 25 percent reduction in their income this year, totaling $250 million. Quotas were reduced by 29 percent this year, and are forecast to be reduced by as much as 30 percent in the wake of weak prices and sales at auction. In mid-December, prices ranged from a low of $188.54 per hundredweight in Bowling Green to $194.35 in Danville, where prices have consistently been highest in the state. Five hundred million to 550 million pounds of burley are expected to be sold across the state. As much as 25 percent of the product was expected to go straight into the cooperative’s pool for later sale. Burley quotas will be set Jan 31. A report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society says that since the 1960’s, the percentage of American-grown tobacco used in American-made cigarettes has declined from about 90 percent to less than 60 percent. Cigarette companies dispute those figures. Not only was much of this year’s burley crop destroyed by the drought, but the leaf that did make it to market was higher in nicotine content, which goes against current trends. R. J. Reynolds recently announced that it will make cigarettes with less nitrosamine, a compound identified as a possible carcinogen. The company is recruiting low-nitrosamine leaf growers, and offering to help pay for the cost of converting their barns from direct-fire to heat exchange processing, which reduces the compound’s levels by as much as 90 percent. According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, cigarette consumption is forecast to fall by 20 percent over the next decade. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22.9 percent of Americans smoke regularly. Kentucky still holds the highest ranking among state populations of smokers, at almost 31 percent. University of Kentucky agriculture economists predict that tobacco’s share of the state’s ag income could drop from $750 million this year to as low as $500 million next year. They also report that various federal farm aid packages could contribute as much as 35 percent of Kentucky’s total farm income in 1999. With nearly $1 billion in receipts, the equine industry accounts for nearly 25 percent of the state’s total farm economy. PIKEVILLE Patton: Fiscal Court Should Ante Up $1.3M PIKE County Judge-Executive Karen Gibson wants to spend $1.3 million of a $3 million county surplus on extending water lines to over 4,000 residents. Governor Paul Patton, in a letter Gibson read to a rapt audience of over 250 at a recent fiscal court meeting, says if he’s going to bat with the legislature for the county’s proposed 6,700 seat, $22.5 million civic center, he expects the fiscal court to do what’s right and ante up the $1.3 million toward that project instead. Patton has asked the Pike County officials to spend the money to buy up land for the project. Seven million dollars of coal severance tax money is already destined for the project, and the governor plans to ask the legislature for $10 million more, in addition to the $5.5 million he has already pledged from the state’s surplus. "You have already demonstrated that you have absolutely no concept of how to grow the economy of Pike County, so I intend to make those decisions so long as I am governor," wrote Patton in the letter to Gibson. Patton has not been inattentive to his home territory since taking office. The move to keep 606 as the area code in Eastern Kentucky was one most recent bow toward the governor’s interests in that region’s economic development. He also recently announced that the city’s Redevelopment Housing Program will receive a $1 million boost from the state’s Community Development Block Grant program to help replace low-quality city housing with townhouses and an apartment complex. LEXINGTON Host Communications Wins Rights to UK Broadcasts THE five-year rights to broadcast University of Kentucky men’s basketball and football games went to Host Communications again, for $17.65 million. The bid narrowly beat out a bid of $17 million offered by former Host partner Cumulus Media, WLEX-TV and two sports marketers. The yearly dollar amount is over half again as large as the contract currently in place. Games will be broadcast on 80 radio stations and 10 television stations across the region. Host Communications got its start when Jim Host secured Wildcat radio rights in 1974. While UK’s Internet rights are still up in the air, Total Sports Inc., an Internet sports programming company in which Host Communications owns 5.5 percent, will be making an IPO in several months worth up to $57.5 million. Atlanta-based Bull Run Corporation, currently finalizing its purchase of Host for $93 million, owns 6 percent of Total Sports. LOUISVILLE Architects Honored for Projects by the Kentucky Society of the AIA FIVE Louisville projects, all designed locally, have been recognized by the Kentucky Society of the American Institute of Architects for their superior quality. Another local firm and a corporate family also were honored for their contributions to good design. Receiving the society’s Honor Award for best statewide design project was the African Outpost restaurant at the Louisville Zoo, a project designed by Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Inc., of Florida and Godsey Associates of Louisville. This facility employed South African native craftsmen to construct an authentic African structure using traditional materials and techniques. Merit Awards were also given to the Historic Pump Station No. 1 renovation, coordinated by the Louis & Henry Group; to the Brown Theatre renovation, by Bravura Corporation and Rangaswamy & Associates, Structural Engineers; to the Ballard High School Fine Arts Center and the Linear Park Restroom at Waterfront Park, both designed by Bravura Corporation. Veteran architect K. Norman Berry received the society’s C. Julian Oberwarth Award for distinguished service, and his partner, Steven A. Eggers, was cited for his commitment to the society and its goals. The two are cooperating in the design of Louisville’s Slugger Field and the restoration of the state Capitol dome. Finally, Owsley Brown II and his sister, Christina, were presented with the Citizens Laureate Award. The National Trust recently honored Brown-Forman Corp. for Historic Preservation for its continuing support. The company has just completed the restoration of its new communications center on West Main Street. LOUISVILLE Anthem Settles Disputes, Agreements in Two Claims to Cost $119 Million ANTHEM, Inc., the Indianapolis-based licensee for seven statewide Blue Cross plans, has reached agreements in two claims that will cost it a total of $119 million. The company agreed to pay the Commonwealth of Kentucky $45 million into a special health care fund to settle a suit brought by Attorney General Ben Chandler. Chandler had been seeking $230 million, alleging that the company improperly converted charitable assets into corporate assets when it acquired the Kentucky Blue Cross plan six years ago. Anthem denied the charge but did negotiate the settlement. Although no details have been announced, state officials have suggested that the $45 million principal be invested while annual interest be used to fund health care services. Proposed ideas include increased subsidies for indigent care clinics in rural areas, subsidies for private health insurance for low-income residents and increased funding for stop-smoking efforts. The General Assembly will make the final decision. NORTHERN KENTUCKY Comair Adds Customer Conveniences at its Hub in Northern Kentucky COMAIR, the Delta Connection, will expand their non-stop jet service to five cities, including Chicago and Charleston, beginning February 1. Additionally, the company recently expanded its hub concourse at the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport by 35,000-S.F., including increased seating capacity, more sit-down telephone units, additional laptop computer hookups and additional check-in areas. Comair customers will also enjoy more business, restaurant and retail options. Also debuting in February will be Laptop Lane Limited, a sit-down office which includes fax machines and computers with high-speed Internet access hook-ups and Rapidos, an innovative restaurant providing bagged meals that can be carried onboard. FRANKFORT Kentucky Dairy Cattle Selling South of the Border ; Exporting Link Created THE latest request from Mexican buyers for prices of 320 head of Holstein dairy heifers is but one of the many success stories in the brief history of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s office in Guadalajara. "A number of producers from Mexico have visited Kentucky over the past two years, since our office in Mexico has been open," said Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith. "Cattle producers knew of Wisconsin and some other states exporting dairy cows, but not a lot of them knew what Kentucky had to offer in dairy replacement heifers." Many Mexican buyers take advantage each year of the North American International Expo in Louisville to contact the state Department of Agriculture about available cattle for sale. While some beef cattle have gone to Mexico, Smith says most Mexican buyers are looking for five-to-seven-month bred heifers with weights of between 1,050 and 1,100 pounds. In November, at least five loads of dairy heifers were trucked to Mexican buyers from Kentucky producers, he said. "Through the promotion of the Mexico office and contacts we have made with Mexican buyers, a confidence has developed in the Kentucky cattle product," said Gene Royalty, marketing advisor to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. "Before, no one was thinking Kentucky when it came to dairy cattle. Now there is a channel of communication open." LOUISVILLE ARM Will Sell Insurance Operations and File Chapter 11 LOUISVILLE-based ARM Financial Group, Inc., once a fast-growing innovator called "another Vencor", is following its local model into bankruptcy. The company has announced it will sell its insurance operations and file a Chapter 11 reorganization plan. Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. of Cincinnati will buy ARM’s troubled integrity life units, which had been seized by the State of Ohio for insolvency. ARM has been trying to sell the units since it announced in mid-year that it lost $174 million in the second quarter, primarily because of huge losses from its newly acquired life insurance operations. ARM was founded by John Franco and Martin Ruby in Louisville seven years ago. It began as a "backroom" investment management firm for smaller life insurance companies, but began to offer its own retail products after Franco retired two years ago. (Ruby resigned as president following the disastrous second quarter report.) The company employs 300 in Louisville; no announcement has been made concerning any possible downsizing. STATE Kentucky Economy to Grow at a Moderate Rate During 2000 KENTUCKIANS can expect to see moderate growth in the state’s economy during 2000, with a rise of 2.5 percent in the real gross state product, say economists in the University of Kentucky’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Mark Berger, director of the center, said the forecast indicates a healthy state economy, although the rate of growth will not be as impressive as during the last few years. The moderate growth will come after a year in which both the state and national economies grew at rapid rates, Berger noted. Preliminary estimates indicate Kentucky’s employers added 35,300 jobs during 1999 for a growth in employment of 2 percent. The strong performance was due in part to a growing manufacturing sector, while the coal mining industry defied earlier expectations and maintained employment levels. During 2000, total employment is forecast to grow at a lower rate of 1.5 percent, while personal income should grow at 2.3 percent. As in previous years, most of the increase in jobs should be traced to the service and retail trade sectors. Service industry employment will grow by 2.4 percent, adding 11,100 new jobs, while retail trade jobs will increase by 1.6 percent by adding 5,600 new positions. Manufacturing employment will rise slightly, while job losses in the coal industry will be moderate. Over the three year period from 2000 through 2002, the forecast calls for employment reductions in the manufacturing and coal mining sectors. Manufacturing jobs will grow by 0.4 percent in 2000 before declining by 0.3 percent in 2001 and by 0.2 percent in 2002. Meanwhile, the coal industry can expect to see the loss of more than 450 jobs in each of the three years. LOUISVILLE Louisville Airport Expansion Deemed a Success THE 10-year plan to expand and improve Louisville International Airport, has been identified as an outstanding success by a pair of local evaluations. The Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville has updated previous reports demonstrating that the proposed economic benefits of the project have been significantly exceeded by actual gains in jobs, payroll and state and local taxes. In fact, the expansion’s actual accomplishments for 1998, the last year studied, exceeded the original projects for 2010 in all three categories. According to the analysis, the project has generated 29,500 jobs with a total payroll of $1.1 billion, yielding $135 million in state and local taxes. While the job total is 10 percent more than the original 2010 estimate, the actual payroll exceeds the estimate by 150 percent and the taxes collected exceed the estimate by 20 percent – with another 12 years to accumulate until 2010. Leadership Louisville, in a 20th-anniversary survey of its 1000 graduates, also identified the airport expansion as the metropolitan area’s "biggest hit." When a separate selection of the associated United Parcel Service is included, the airport-based projects were cited by 66 percent of the respondents. Perhaps to underscore its importance, UPS has announced plans to expand its Hub 2000 by constructing three additional warehouses. LOUISVILLE Two Companies Accused of Fraudulent Dealings TWO Louisville companies – one a pillar of the community, the other largely anonymous – have been accused of fraudulent dealings in the transporting of goods internationally. United Parcel Service is being sued by a group of customers who accuse the giant shipper of fraud by collecting fees for package insurance while operating its own self-insurance pool. Among the 20 plaintiffs to the suit filed in Dayton, Ohio, are three from the Louisville area. The suit seeks $14 billion in damages covering a 16-year period. UPS denies the charges. The claim arises from a U.S. Tax Court lawsuit against UPS that alleges the company utilized a Bermuda reinsurance company it established as a tax evasion scheme. The company denies that charge and is appealing the ruling. In an action unrelated to the UPS suits, a federal grand jury has indicted the president of AM-Ar International and two former executives on charges they employed bribery, extortion and fraud to win defense contracts. The indictment accuses the trio of operating the export company as a "racketeering enterprise" in securing $14 million in contacts to ship aircraft parts and electronics. LEXINGTON Lexmark Focuses on E-Commerce, Streamlines Senior Management LEXMARK International, Inc., a global printing solutions company based in Lexington, recently announced a restructuring and streamlining of its organization. The company’s three operating divisions – Business Printer Division (BPD), Consumer Printer Division (CPD) and a newly-formed Customer Solutions Division (CSD) – will report directly to Paul Curlander, chairman and CEO. Lexmark’s former Imaging Solutions Division (ISD) will cease to exist. The company’s new CSD will combine Lexmark’s after-market supplies business with its initiatives aimed at e-commerce and small-to-medium businesses. Thomas B. Lamb will serve in the newly created role of president of CSD. Paul A. Rooke, formerly president of ISD, assumes the role of president of Lexmark’s BPD. He replaces John C. Mitchell, who will be leaving the company. Bernard V. Masson will continue to serve as president of Lexmark’s CSP and now reports directly to Curlander. In making the announcement, Curlander stated that the burgeoning area of e-commerce and the company’s growing interest in servicing the small-and-medium business segment are key growth opportunities for the company. GOLDEN TRIANGLE Informal Discussions in the Works for Possible Research Park REPRESENTATIVES of business and government interests in Louisville and Lexington are informally discussing an idea to develop a joint "research park", similar to North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, between the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. At a forum sponsored by the Louisville Medical Center Development Corp., participants heard Jim Roberson, former executive director of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce and now president and CEO of Research Triangle Park. He credited the transformation from an agricultural to urban economy in North Carolina to the park, which now employs 42,000 persons at an average annual salary of $52,000. The 7,000-acre park is home to 133 businesses and research organizations. In a related development, Greater Louisville, Inc. (GLI), which has spoken favorably about the research park concept, has identified its top priorities for this year’s General Assembly. While GLI included eight projects on its wish list, the top two are closely tied to research and development- $100 million to finance the proposed "Bucks for Brains" program at the University of Louisville and $10 million for expansion of Medical Center Development Corp. Both would parallel similar proposals from Lexington. LOUISVILLE Papa John’s, Tricon Global Expanding Foreign Market Operations THOSE local and global competitors- Papa John’s International and Tricon Global Restaurants- have each announced joint ventures that will expand their presence in foreign markets. Papa John’s has purchased the 250-store Perfect Pizza chain in the United Kingdom and has signed a franchise agreement with a Saudi prince to create another 150 stores in the Middle East. By acquiring Perfect Pizza, Papa John’s now becomes the second-largest provider in the UK, behind Tricon Global Restaurant Inc.’s Pizza Hut, and the largest in carry out and delivery sales. Tricon, meanwhile, has formed a joint venture with Scott’s Restaurants Inc., a private company, to operate 636 Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken stores in Canada. Scott’s, with 338 locations is North America’s largest Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee. Tricon will merge its 309 corporate-owned Pizza Hut and Taco Bell stores into the as-yet-unnamed joint operating company. Business Briefs A Compilation of Statewide Business and Economic News STATE October county-by-county unemployment rates ranged from a low of 1.3 percent in Bourbon and Woodford counties to highs of 14.2 percent in Letcher County and 13.1 percent in Harlan County. Overall, 85 counties experienced a drop in unemployment, while 27 tallied more jobless claims. Most of the unemployed had previously worked in manufacturing, though the Big Sandy and Bluegrass Area Development Districts counted more newly unemployed from the service sector. Judge Stephen M. Shewmaker ordered Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company to pay Lexington developers Dudley and Don Webb $550,000, and ordered the company’s law firm, Frost & Jacobs, to pay the Webbs $500,000 because of inadequate legal representation and poor case preparation. Both the state and the law firm, which has recovered more than $36 million in property and $4 million in cash from Webb interests, will appeal the ruling. In an interview published in the Frankfort State Journal, Kentucky Division of Forestry director Mark Matuszewski said the cost of combating this year’s fires has neared $4 million. He also stated that forest fires reduce the value of an acre of timberland by about $85. Over 120,000 acres have burned this year, caused by over 2,300 fires, many of them set by arsonists. Existing and potential Kentucky employers can now access a motherlode of information at the Cabinet for Workforce Development’s Employ Kentucky website, at www. EmployKY.net. The new site is that Cabinet’s contribution to Governor Patton’s sweeping EMPOWER Kentucky re-engineering project. Speaking in Paducah, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce chairman Lyle Hanna highlighted issues that the Chamber is tracking as this year’s legislative session gets underway. Among them: maintaining or changing the present workers compensation law; devising a proper gasoline tax hike, equitably distributed between the state and local governments; collective bargaining for state employees (a proposition that the chamber opposes) and increased workforce development. After 70 years, Pittston Company plans to sell its coal operations and focus on its Brink’s division and its BAX Global transportation and freight business. The Pittston Minerals Group operates 30 coal mines in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has designated Fayette, Jefferson, Warren and Henderson counties as Project Impact communities, making small business owners in those counties eligible for low-interest loans of up to $50,000 to make their businesses more disaster-resistant. The loans will be administered by the SBA disaster office in Atlanta, (404) 347-3771. The Community Bankers Association of Kentucky, comprised of 150 institutions throughout the Commonwealth, has chosen Midwest Payment Systems as its preferred ATM and debit card EFT processor, entering into a 3-year agreement with the Fifth Third Bancorp subsidiary. With $6 million from the Commonwealth backing it, a new fingerprint scanning system is now in use at 80 jails and prisons across the state. The scanning network is the first statewide system of its kind in the country, and can report a match within five to eight minutes. Kentucky Housing Corporation will ask the General Assembly to double its current debt limit to $2.5 billion. The agency finances loans to lower-income home buyers and administers public housing in 80 Kentucky counties. A report card from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a non-profit research and policy group, gives Kentucky a "C" for overall economic development efforts. According to the Cabinet for Economic Development, more than 30,000 jobs and $3.5 billion in new or expanded business came to the state in the last year. But while quality of life marks were high, the state trailed most other states in such areas as courting technology companies, high school attendance and federal R&D funding. According to Ron Crouch, director of the Kentucky State Data Center, three-quarters of the nation’s population growth during the first decade of the new century will be among minorities. That makes Census 2000 a watershed event for all minorities in the state, attendees learned at a conference sponsored by the new Kentucky Black Caucus and the Kentucky League of Cities. A six-month disparity study to be done by Atlanta consulting firm Griffin & Strong will document whether the state historically discriminates in awarding state contracts. Such studies are required by federal law in states that consider race and gender in their award process. This contract, issued by the Finance Cabinet, may cost as much as $696,000. ALBANY State Senator David Williams, expected to become senate president in January, has asked the Kentucky Community Technical College System to move the proposed $8 million technical education center originally slated for construction in Clinton County to another site because of concerns about accessibility and caliber of library facilities. BARDSTOWN The Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey of 1990 has been named by The Spirit Journal as its "Whiskey of the Year" for 1999. The product is produced and bottled by Heaven Hill Distilleries. BOWLING GREEN Western Kentucky University’s Astrophysical Observatory will benefit from $1 million of a $2 million federal appropriation for a nationwide astronomical consortium. Construction of an imaging robotic telescope, the first of its kind, is nearing completion just outside campus. Meanwhile, a $1 million gift from the Preston Family Foundation will see the university’s intramural complex through to completion. The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce recognized Bill and Gail Balance as the 1999 Farmers of the Year. They own 210 acres and rent 1200 additional acres, where they raise a variety of crops, milk 180 Holsteins and raise 200 calves annually. Bill’s father, Haz, received the same award 20 years ago. DANVILLE Centre College senior Michael Lanham of Gravel Switch, Kentucky was one of 32 Americans named as Rhodes Scholars for 2000. At age 18, he is among the youngest recipients in the history of the prestigious program, which dates back to 1902. EASTERN KENTUCKY Researchers at UK’s Center for Rural Health have dubbed a 19-county region of eastern and southern Kentucky called "Region 8" as the Commonwealth’s unhealthiest place to live. Their studies, based on health statistics from 1990 through 1994, conclude that lack of both education and economic development are contributing factors to the area’s high mortality rate. FRANKFORT The Franklin County Senior Citizens Center, recipient of a state community development block grant and an anonymous donation totaling over half a million dollars, will double its size by the end of the year, said the center’s chairman Bert Sisk. The Center also feeds over 300 members daily – both at the facility and through Meals on Wheels – and will use much of the money to expand its adult day care program. The Transportation Cabinet’s Division of Purchases was named Purchasing Agency of the Year by the Kentucky Public Procurement Association. The division’s ten employees manage a budget of $130 million. HAWESVILLE Willamette Industries will spend over $35 million to install a 60-megawatt steam-powered electric turbine generator at its paper mill, supplying 75 percent of the power necessary to run the plant. However, the company will still pay the same amount of markup to Kenergy, the area electric cooperative, while Big Rivers, the electricity’s producer near Henderson, will in turn be able to re-market the unused block of power. HEBRON GATX Logistics will open a 300,000 S.F. order fulfillment facility in the Park West International industrial park in February. LA GRANGE Ford Motor Company, Waste Management of Kentucky and Red-Penn Sanitation Co. will pay $4.5 million to cap the 48-acre former Superfund site at Red-Penn landfill. Cleanup of the site was taken over by the state in 1994, amid claims that the EPA wasn’t doing enough. LAWRENCEBURG A state grant of nearly $962,000 to help the South Anderson Water District pipe water from Frankfort to part of Anderson County is apparently going unspent, as Frankfort water officials claim no knowledge of any such request. The grant has a deadline of April, 2000, but some officials, like Lawrenceburg mayor Gary Chilton, would rather see the community build its own new treatment plant, projected to cost around $7 million. LEXINGTON After much wrangling and research, the Lexington-Fayette County Urban County Council has voted unanimously to favor an interim Kentucky River solution to water supply and storage problems that may arise from a drought, rapid growth or both. The Kentucky River Authority will seek funds from the General Assembly and other sources to upgrade and raise dams on the river. If significant progress has not occurred in six months, the Council will reconsider other options, including the controversial pipeline to Louisville favored by Kentucky-American Water Company and the latent proposal involving a coalition of water suppliers from communities surrounding Lexington. Kentucky Technology Inc., a UK-backed company formed to serve as an economic development incubator, dedicated a new, privately financed $1.5 million building at the University’s Coldstream Research Campus. The building will eventually house five start-up companies. PC Data Online reports that ecampus.com was the most visited college textbook store in the nation in the month of October. The company was recently recognized as one of the "Stars of e-Business" by Oracle Corporation. A Lexington distribution facility for Amazon.com, originally scheduled to be up and running by Christmas, will instead open sometime this year. Memphis-based SL Hotel Development will build a 150-room Suburban Lodge extended stay hotel on the north side of the city. Norfolk, Virginia-based Harbor Group International has purchased the 14-story Bank One Plaza from Bank One for $19 million. Bank One will continue to lease 70 percent of the building’s office space, and Harbor Group plans half a million dollars worth of renovations to the 27-year-old complex. Keeneland distributed a record $636,300 to 77 charitable organizations this year- up from $528,492 in 1998. The increase in contributions can be attributed to exceptionally strong thoroughbred auction sales, which grossed $688.5 million for 7,930 horses. This year’s largest grants went to the YMCA of Central Kentucky, McDowell Cancer Research Foundation and St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, with each organization receiving $50,000. LONDON Image Entry president Bill Deaton has begun a new company – National Order Processing, Inc. – and has spent over $1.7 million to purchase a 111,000 S.F. building in Laurel County’s Vaughn Ridge Industrial Park to house its first operation. Renaissance Bankcard recently opened a customer service center in the industrial park, employing 200 people. Whymore Coal Company received a 1999 Commissioner’s Award of Excellence in Reclamation from the Department for Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. E&J Construction also received an Award of Excellence from the Division of Abandoned Mine Land for its work in Leslie County on the Big Lute Branch Slides project. LOUISVILLE Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, built upon the sprawling and contaminated CSX rail yard near the University of Louisville campus, has been awarded the 1999 Grand Prize Phoenix Award as the nation’s best "brownfield" reclamation project. Brownfields are contaminated industrial sites present daunting problems in reclamation for new uses. Three Louisville companies have been cited by Worth magazine for their 1998 charitable giving, with one – United Parcel Service – underscoring its record with a $2 million grant to Jefferson County Public Schools. Humana, Inc. ranked second among all corporations in percent of earnings contributed at 4.8 percent, the magazine reported, while Philip Morris ranked fourth in total giving, with $60 million contributed. Bravura Corporation has been selected by the city to design and build a 23-story upscale housing complex overlooking Waterfront Park. The $34.5 million project was the winning design of five submitted for the 1-acre parcel. It will be financed in part by a $2.5 million low-interest loan from a market rate housing pool created by Mayor David Armstrong. MIDDLESBORO Instructors from Cumberland Valley Technical College recently offered training in heavy-equipment safety to 30 representatives of national parks and historic sites from across the United States, in the first of perhaps many joint projects between the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the U.S. Park Service. MOREHEAD Officials at Family Dollar, the first tenant in the MMRC Regional Industrial Park, hope to be up and running in their new 907,000 square-foot distribution center by late spring. The company expects to begin hiring an estimated 500 employees in April. NORTHERN KENTUCKY After buying the Danish company Superfos in October for $520 million, Ashland Inc. has completed the sale of that company’s non-paving assets to a unit of the Industri Kapital equity fund for $285 million. Superfos’ Alabama-based paving unit will become part of Ashland’s Atlanta-based APAC division. OWENSBORO A Chamber of Commerce survey reveals that Daviess County added 1,363 jobs over the past fiscal year ended July 1, 415 of them called "primary" jobs, which produce goods and services mostly consumed outside the county. 22 companies already plan to add 411 "primary" jobs next year. According to Hugh Haydon, the Chamber’s incoming president and CEO, Daviess County has 6,000 more jobs that it had in 1980. He said the county is one of only nine in the state that send more money to Frankfort each year than they receive in state services. PADUCAH Supporters of the Four Rivers Performing Arts Center, still about $8 million short of their funding goal, will ask Governor Patton and legislators to allow McCracken County to raise its hotel room tax, currently at the state maximum rate of four percent. Paducah received $12 million from the state legislature for the center in 1997, and will be requesting an additional $8 million in 2000. PRESTONSBURG The Mountain Arts Center will receive a $100,000 grant for educational programs from the U.S. Department of Education’s budget. The money is expected to be used to further expand the Center’s youth outreach programs. RICHMOND Because of a retroactive change in how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services counts hospital beds, Pattie A. Clay Hospital in Richmond had to pay back over $5 million to the federal government. Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester had to pay back $2.5 million. So they’re both suing the federal government, claiming that 1997 rule changes were improperly made to the Department’s Medicare reimbursement qualifications and rates. SOMERSET A group headed by Martin P. Shearer has purchased Southern Belle Dairy from Suiza Foods of Dallas, Texas, after Suiza was required to divest itself of the operation following its merger with Broughton Foods. The dairy processing plant sends out milk, ice cream, juices and other products into parts of seven states. WESTERN KENTUCKY Easter Seals West of Paducah will join forces with Goodwill Industries of Kentucky to operate a supported employment effort for disabled workers in ten counties out of Goodwill’s Hopkinsville store location. Services will include job placement, assessment and evaluation services and a work-transition program. WHEELWRIGHT Officials with the Otter Creek minimum security correctional center, one of three prisons operated in the state by Corrections Corporation of America, say they must upgrade to accept medium-security prisoners or close down the facility, which would mean the loss of 128 jobs in this former coal camp town. The company funded expansions of all three prisons last year, but nearly 20 percent of beds are going unfilled at all three facilities, amounting to a current annual loss of $3.4 million for CCA. Back to January Issue Back to Fast Lane Index

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