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FAST LANE -
January 1999 STATE A quarterly survey of businesses throughout Kentucky indicates that for the most part, employers are expecting the current robust economy to continue into 1999. In fact, with the exception of the Ashland and Paducah areas, most Kentucky communities are anticipating a double-digit net increase in hiring during the first quarter of the year. (Ashland's 13 percent decrease is attributed to the departure of Ashland, Inc., which is moving many of its corporate jobs to Northern Kentucky effective this month.) On a national level, the results of the survey indicate that 23 percent of the companies interviewed plan workforce increases, 10 percent expect reductions, 63 percent anticipate no change and four percent are uncertain. The Employment Outlook Survey, which is conducted on a quarterly basis by Manpower, Inc., is based on interviews with 16,000 companies in 473 cities throughout the U.S. Employment Outlook Survey First Quarter 1999
LEXINGTON The University of Kentucky is the recipient of funding that will serve to create endowed chairs for both pediatrics research and cancer research at the UK Markey Cancer Center. A $1 million gift from the Children's Miracle Network will be used to fund research and programs focusing on chronic children's illnesses. The gift will be matched by funds from Kentucky's Research Challenge Trust Fund and will enable the university to create two $1 million research chairs in pediatrics. Funds will also be used to recruit a nationally recognized physician/scientist in pediatric research. The gift comes from funds raised by the UK Children's Miracle Network, a board comprised of community and civic leaders from Central and Eastern Kentucky. A $2 million gift from the McDowell Cancer Foundation will also be matched by the Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund and will create two endowed chairs for the UK Markey Cancer Center. The gift will allow the center to recruit and retain internationally recognized clinician scientists in areas that will be critical for advanced cancer research in the next century. The McDowell Cancer Foundation raises funds exclusively to support the Markey Cancer Center and has raised more than $45 million to that end. One of the advancing areas of the cancer center is the molecular genetics of breast and gynecologic cancers. Researchers at UK are also progressing in the areas of prostate cancer, DNA repair systems, and gene therapy. One of the next steps planned by the University is a Women's Cancer Facility, which will provide a conduit for the introduction of new treatments derived from ongoing research studies.
STATE Kentucky firms that have engineered and placed a new product on the market over the past four years are being invited to submit entries for the 1999 Governor's New Product Award. Sponsored by the Professional Engineers in Industry (PEI), the Office of the Governor and The Cabinet for Economic Development, the award recognizes progressive businesses and industries in Kentucky that have helped stimulate the state's economy. To be eligible for the award, a product must have been placed on the market between September 1, 1994 and September 1, 1998. Separate awards will be given to small (1-50 employees), medium (51-200), and large (201+) industry classifications. Any new product, machine, process or material that has been developed and/or manufactured in Kentucky is eligible and up to three entries per company may be submitted. The winners will be judged based on the following criteria:
Entries should be submitted to the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE) by February 28, 1999. Additional information and application forms may be obtained by contacting the KSPE, Kentucky Engineering Center, 160 Democrat Drive, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, 800/455-5573 or via e-mail at kspe@kyengcenter.org.
HEBRON Mesaba Aviation, which operates as a Northwest Airlink affiliate, has announced plans to build a 126,000-square-foot aircraft maintenance hangar at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Construction on the $12.5 million facility is scheduled to begin this spring and is expected to be complete by the end of the year or early 2000. Sited on a 14-acre tract in the south airfield area of the airport, the hangar will include 63,000 square feet of hangar space that will be used to maintain the company's fleet of Avro RJ85 aircraft; the additional space will be utilized for support space that will include shops, offices and training space. When complete, the new facility will house approximately 155 employees, including mechanics, administrative and training staff, pilots and flight attendants. Mesaba operates a fleet of 92 turbo-prop and jet aircraft and currently serves 91 cities in 18 states and Canada from its two hubs at Minneapolis/St. Paul and Detroit Metro International Airports. Mesaba's parent company, Mesaba Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAIR) was recently ranked 41st in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the nation's top 200 small companies. Mesaba was the only airline to be included in the listing.
BOWLING GREEN The Western Kentucky University Board of Regents has named the University's business college in honor of Gordon Ford, a Louisville CPA who has made a commitment of more than $10.6 million in gifts to support WKU's business programs. The commitment includes $9.5 million in unrestricted funds. In addition, $500,000 will be combined with a $500,000 match from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to create a $1 million endowed professorship in entrepreneurial studies. Ford will also continue to fund a scholarship program for accounting and business majors that he began in 1992, bringing the total commitment to $10.6 million. Ford was a founding partner in the Louisville accounting firm of Yeager, Ford and Warren. The firm merged with Coopers & Lybrand, which has since merged with Price Waterhouse. Now a retired partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ford said he chose to make the gift because he believes education to be "the hope of the world."
STATE In response to a survey indicating that nearly 90 percent of Kentucky businesses are in need of employees trained in network administration, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has approved three community colleges to offer degrees in network and information systems (NIST). The NIST program will give students the background and skills required to design, maintain and expand computer systems. Ashland, Jefferson and Maysville community colleges will act as a joint consortium to offer the program vice distance learning (utilizing CD-ROM, interactive TV and Internet classes) as well as conventional classes. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, database administration will be the nation's fastest-growing field until at least 2006, with nearly five million job openings for certified network professionals expected during that time. The council also approved the following new associate degree programs: agriculture technology, Owensboro Community College; clinical laboratory technology, Henderson Community College, Madisonville Community College; respiratory care, Prestonsburg Community College; and automotive engineering technology, Hazard Community College.
STATE Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) is offering secondary school teachers in Kentucky the opportunity to participate in a 12-day cultural/educational study program in Japan with all expenses being footed by TMS. The Toyota International Teacher Program is being offered to all secondary teachers in the four states where major Toyota facilities are located - California, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. A total of 50 teachers will be selected based on the applicants' professional qualifications, leadership skills, motivation for participating in the program and potential long-term impact of the program experience. In addition to visiting schools in Japan to meet with other educators, participating teachers will be introduced to a variety of industries to explore global issues such as technology and the environment. Applications for the program must be submitted by January 25 and may be obtained by calling toll free, 1-877-TEACHJP.
NEWPORT Efforts to rejuvenate Newport's riverfront area got another shot in the arm with the announcement that the city's Newport on the Levee entertainment district will include a 400-seat 3-D IMAX movie theater. The theater will be adjacent to the Newport Aquarium, which is scheduled to open this May and is anticipated to make the area a major tourist draw. The $40 million, 100,000-square-foot aquarium will include a 300,000-gallon shark tank, a coral reef tank and exhibits featuring penguins, world rivers and moray eels. The aquarium is the first phase of Newport on the Levee, a $60 million entertainment district situated on a 10-acre site on the banks of the Ohio River that will also include restaurants and other entertainment attractions. Aquariums and IMAX theaters have been successfully paired in other markets such as New Orleans, Chattanooga, Barcelona, Spain and Osaka, Japan. Sponsored by Cincinnati-based Star Bank, the IMAX theater will utilize a screen that is seven stories high and nine stories wide to show films in both 3-D and conventional IMAX technology. Of the 130 large-form films in the medium's expanding library, the majority have strong educational themes and several have received Academy Award nominations. The theater will be one of only 20 IMAX 3-D venues in the country and only the second in the Midwest. The theater is expected to open during the summer of 2000 and is projected to cost approximately $12.5 million.
MOUNT VERNON Mount Vernon Bancshares, Inc., owner of The Bank of Mount Vernon, has been acquired by Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Premier (NASDAQ-PFBI), based in Georgetown, owns banks in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia and also owns County Finance Inc. and Premier Data Services, Inc., both in Vanceburg, Kentucky. With the acquisition of Mount Vernon Bancshares, the company will gain two branches in Mount Vernon and a Somerset branch as well as loan production offices in Berea and Richmond. The loan offices will eventually be converted into full-service branches. The Bank of Mount Vernon has approximately $130 million in assets. The sale is expected to be complete by the end of this month.
MARTIN COUNTY Governor Paul Patton has recommended that the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approve the development and funding of a new regional industrial park in Martin County. The 200-acre Honey Branch Regional Industrial Park will be a cooperative effort involving Martin, Johnson, Floyd and Pike counties. The park is adjacent to the 350-acre site of the new U.S. Department of Corrections Bureau of Prisons. The regional industrial park concept has been a major initiative of the Patton administration. Patton's plan is to create large blocks of available, accessible, and marketable industrial land to promote an increase in development and job opportunities. Money for the development of the parks will come from the Local Government Economic Development Fund, which provides grants of coal severance tax revenues to coal-producing counties to assist in diversifying their economies beyond coal. The Martin County project represents the fifth park in Kentucky to be recommended for funding. "The goal of my administration is to raise economic opportunity to a level above the national average," said Patton. "This is the first step toward doing that in the coal counties of Kentucky." The cost of developing the new park is expected to be approximately $4.25 million.
STATE InterMedia cable company is rolling out a high-speed cable modem Internet access service that offers Internet users connections that are up to 100 times faster than conventional telephone modems. "Once you experience this kind of access to the Internet, it will change forever the way you think about and use the Internet," said Bruce Stewart, InterMedia vice president and executive director of communications. For instance, says Stewart, a 25-megabyte file that would ordinarily take about 120 minutes to download using a 28.8 telephone modem will take about one minute using a cable modem. The monthly rate for the InterMedia @Home service is $29.95 per month. Cable modem rented through the company is available for an additional $10 per month or customers may purchase the cable modem outright at retail outlets. A one-time installation cost of approximately $150 covers the cable connection, Ethernet card and software. InterMedia is already servicing Internet users in the Louisville market and access is expected to be available to customers in the Lexington and Northern Kentucky markets by the beginning of March. According to Patsy Judd of the Kentucky Cable Television Association, Limestone Cable in Maysville also offers cable modem access to customers in that area of the state, as does the cable company in Murray, which first offered it to students at Murray State University and plans to roll out the service for the public in the coming months.
HEBRON Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) has announced that it plans to erect an $85-million, 843,000-square-foot Midwest Parts Center (MPC) on 86-acres in the Airpark West development in Hebron. The center will consolidate parts from ToyotaÕs North American suppliers for distribution to dealership service departments in the U.S. and overseas. It is expected to employ approximately 370 people with a projected annual payroll of $15.5 million. The new facility will be the second North American parts center operated by the North American Parts Logistics Division (NAPLD) of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS), the sales and marketing arm of Toyota in the U.S. In addition to providing North American-sourced parts for Toyota and Lexus customers in the U.S., the Midwest Parts Center also will export parts to Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The MPC site is located in unincorporated northern Boone County on State Highway 237, across from the Levi Strauss distribution center and less than one mile south of Interstate 275. Upon completion of the Midwest Parts Center, the six Toyota facilities in Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky will employ more than 1,400 area residents with a combined payroll of $85 million. These facilities include: Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TMMNA) in Erlanger; Toyota Motor Sales, Cincinnati Region, in Cincinnati; TMS Parts Distribution Center in Cincinnati; Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC), Cincinnati Branch; and Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS) Central Region in Cincinnati. "Toyota's newest facility...is another example of the international investment occurring in Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati region," said Tri-ED President Danny G. Fore. "Tri-ED is delighted to have another member of the Toyota family join the region's business community." In appreciation for the community's support of the new project, Toyota Motor Sales President Yoshio Ishizaka and Chuck Brown, vice president of finance for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, presented a check for $100,000 to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on behalf of Toyota.
STATE Dr. Michael McCall, who has been named the first permanent president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, says that one of his first priorities will be to solidify political support for the 13 community colleges and 15 technical colleges that are part of the KCTCS system. McCall comes to the position from South Carolina, where he served as executive director of the state's Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education, a system made up of 16 colleges, 86,000 students and 4,000 full-time employees. McCall says he was attracted to Kentucky because of the KCTCS board's vision for the system and the improvements in postsecondary education that have already occurred under the Patton administration.
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