Omaha World-Herald from Omaha, Nebraska • 22

2D MONDAY MAY 12 2008 BUSINESS OMAHA WORLD IIERALI) TJ Awards The National ederation of Independent Business and Solve ras Payment Systems has named Jennifer Pospichal co owner of Outdoor Recreation Products in Elkhorn as Small Business Champion for Nebraska Prudential Ambassador Real Estate headed by Vince Leisey has received the Pinna cle Office Award for the number of closed residential units in 2007 by Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc The award goes to 10 offices across the country with the top closing records The local office was No 1 in the net work The brokerage also was among the top 100 agents with three teams: Deb Cizek Teresa Elliott and the Urban Omaha Team headed by asha Henning er Moss Union Pacific Railroad has received the Calstart Blue Sky Merit Award for using cleaner and more efficient switching lo comotives Alegent Health has re ceived Medseek's 2008 eHealth Excellence Award Chrysler LLC has named Neil Gustafson parts manager at Performance Chrysler Jeep Dodge in La Vista as one of its na tional managers of the year The Tri County Partner ship which serves Douglas Sarpy and Washington Counties by providing youth services was recently honored by the Great Lakes Employment and Training Association at a conference in St Louis The partnership received the first annual Excel lence in Innovative Programs in a One Stop The Supply Equipment oodservice Alliance has pre sented Circle of Excellence awards to Buller ixture of Omaha and Hawkeye oodser vice of Iowa City Home Instead Senior Care presented red and Ellie Gross man its Cornerstone award for outstanding business perform ance Scorr Marketing has won three awards in Healthcare Mar keting Report annual contest Openings Schnackel Engineers Inc of Omaha has split off its architec tural lighting design consultancy into Light Plan Design with a New York City office at 53 36th St Nabity inancial Group Inc 9850 Nicholas St Suite 305 has added a new division Nabity Business Advisors which offers consulting services to busi nesses Open house Better Bodies Health Club 4117 120th St plans a three day open house Thursday through May 17 to celebrate its 19th anniversary Check with the club for a schedule of events Tuesday The Sarpy County American Business Association will hold a luncheon from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Great Ad ventures Water Park Amore Restaurant at 1811 Hill crest Drive Meg Lauerman di rector of communications at the University of Nebraska Lincoln will be the guest speaker Reser vations are $10 for members $15 for nonmembers Contact Carol Blood at 51 7 1446 Or visit the Web site: www sarpyab wa com Thursday The Midlands Venture rum features Jim Van Lent risk officer at irst National Bank of Omaha discussing Trends and raud at a luncheon from 11:30 am to 1 pm at Security National Bank 1120S 101 St No charge for MV members $15 for nonmembers To register go to wwwmvfo rum com or call 402 397 0280 May 19 The Omaha Republican Business and Professional Wom en's Club will meet at 5:30 pm in the Garden Cafe Grill and Bak ery 11040 Oak St Rockbrook Village shopping center or in formation call 571 7373 Microsoft gadget helps with cybercrime fight The Seattle Times SEATTLE Microsoft has developed a small plug in de vice that investigators can use to quickly extract foren sic data from computers that may have been used in crimes The COEE which stands for Computer Online orensic Evidence Extractor is a USB that was qui etly distributed to a handful of law enforcement agencies last June The device contains 150 commands that can dramati cally cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence which is becoming more im portant in real world crime as well as cybercrime It can decrypt passwords and anal yze a computer's Internet ac tivity as well as data stored in the computer It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself In stead the investigator can scan for evidence on site More than 2000 officers in 15 countries including Po land the Philippines Ger many New Zealand and the United States are using the device which Microsoft pro vides free antasys: Developers attract local regional businesses Continued from Page 1 part of the 90th Street area be tween Maple and Dodge cred ited project with kick starting interest the old adage when construction activity the others come in and do a Suttle said lightbulbs start clicking on in a variety of minds and the next thing you know got a lot of Suttle said the 90th Street retail offerings from Blondo to ort Streets weakened when big stores started leav ing the area 15 to 20 years ago The trend in new retail at that time was to build in west Omaha he said easier to develop a cornfield than to piece to gether lots and to put together multiple ownerships into one Suttle said the demandis Now the infill projects necessarily nationally owned chain stores he and Hartmann said Hartmann was hoping for and expecting some national tenants but was surprised to see demand from locally or regionally owned stores Tenants who stayed in the existing building after reno vations include Going ormal (tuxedo rental) Grant Street Bar Hairloom and Tanners (tanning salon) all local or regional tenants In the new retail space: DIT Computers which moved in August from 72nd and Blondo Streets 9 Heartland Clinical Re search which moved in Sep tember from a building across 90th Street 9 Echoes Inspired Photog raphy which moved in Au gust The owner was manager of a photography studio part of a chain in Westroads Mall before open ing Echoes armers Insurance which moved in June from about' 116th and Dodge Streets Omaha Ink an ink jet cartridge refill company which moved in July from a kiosk in Westroads Mall interesting to me on that space is that we were able to draw some tenants from Westroads Mall and that by providing a nice retail strip we attracted some high performing tenants in the area that wanted to stay in the area but that wanted to up grade their Hart mann said The developers spent $29 million on the renovations and new construction Hart mann said There was nothing scien tific to identifying the area for an infill project he said The business partners no ticed fewer housing starts out west so the 90th Street area near Blondo made he said we found is that the population is still there the housing is still there the traffic is still He also pointed out other infill projects including an existing retail strip center east of 72nd and Dodge Streets with a Deli as well as Aksarben Village and Midtown Crossing at Turner Coming soon What: A antasys Touchfree Carwash and Convenience Store featuring a 4700 square foot convenience store a 5000 square foot touch free tunnel carwash and a 2000 square foot retail bay Will include nine dispensing stations with 18 fuel pumps and will sell 85 an ethanol based fuel The project will include 2000 square feet of retail space developers envision fast food or quick casual restaurants dry cleaners or insurance agents as possible tenants Where: Planned for the southwest corner of 90th and Ohio Streets When: Grading is to begin immediately after demolition of an existing retail buildingand a house at 2324 90th St is completed this month The carwash convenience store and retail space will be built first with projected completion by late October 2008 Construction on a medical facility to the south probably will start in midsummer with expected completion early spring 2009 What to expect with the carwash: The customer drives into a 160 foot long tunnel the carwash attendant prepares the car with a wand or sponges off hard to clean areas a conveyor system pulls the car through the automated carwash and attendants towel dry the car Did you know? antasys tries to attract female customers with well lighted gas pumps and convenience stores clean bathrooms and a coffee selection with 10 different flavors and eight cappuccinos Park Krause said the own research led it to the area was a plus or a bonus that the area was revitalizing but I think it was primarily the traffic that drove us to the he said a conven ience store we look at visi bility and access This one is going to have great visi The closest antasys is at 90th and ort Streets and the family owned Omaha based company plans no other new stores this year he said if we build one a year pretty strong be cause of the price tag of what we Krause said The planned price tag is about $4 million and the medical facility $2 million he said The medical facility which has received interest from a dentist was the suggestion of a real estate adviser who pointed out the proximity to Children's Hos pital and planned five story pediatric outpatient center at 84th and Dodge Krause said The medical building will be the first project for the group of local investors Loreto LLC feel the antasys will be a major draw and a major asset to that he said Contact the writer: 444 1183 Christine Iaueowhcom Charity: Raikes to step in Sept 2 Continued from Pagel their The foundation has a $373 bil lion endowment and more than 500 employees working on global health and development and US education issues Raikes said the job is honor and a once in a lifetime opportunity to focus on improv ing the lives of others convinced that through strong partnerships ambitious goals and a commitment to impact we can transform Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 when the computer soft ware company had only a few hundred employees He is a donor to the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford Uni versity and established a schol arship fund there for rural and inner city students He has a bachelor's degree in engi neering and economic systems from Stanford Raikes and other business leaders purchased the Seattle Mariners baseball team in 1992 He has been a director of the Software Publishers Associa tion and the Washington Tech nology Center Raikes and his wife Tricia have three chil COMMUNITY CONNECTION BUSINESS PEOPLE PayPal Jason Nielsen a founding member of PayPal operations in Nebraska has been named vice president of worldwide risk op erations for PayPal an eBay company Prior to joining Pay Pal Nielsen was a trainer with irst National Bank Cornhusker Bank David Shiffermiller has been named senior vice president of lending and Tom Weigent vice president of corporate banking at Cornhusker Bank Centennial Bank Centennial Bank announces a variety of promotions: Staucia Dumont first vice president Kaylene Grell banking center manager Ashland Teresa Lay ton senior vice president trust Jessica Mundt first vice presi dent Lisa Reisen operations of ficer Julie Rodriguez assistant vice president and senior bank ing center manager and Craig Swerczek senior vice president Lawrence Pete has been ap pointed assistant vice president and banking center manager He previously was second vice pres ident at irst National Bank of Omaha College of St Mary Tara Knudson Carl has been named senior vice presdient special assistant to the president at the College of St Mary Prior to accepting her current posi tion she served as vice president for student development at Mid land Lutheran College and previ ously held a similar position at the College of St Mary Leo A Daly Ross Ensor has been named a corporate international direc tor at Leo A Daly Prior to joining the architecture planning and engineering firm Ensor was a vice president at Election Sys tems Software Inc of Omaha Mundt JM i Dumont i 4 A Ensor fa 'I Jr Shiffermiller Knudson Carl 7 yS Swerczek DOM Layton Si a A Weigent Shuttleworth Ingersoll PLC of Cedar Rapids Iowa as an associ ate attorney Dan Wych has been hired by Southwest Iowa Renewable En ergy LLC as manager of an etha nol plant under construction near Council Bluffs Bailey Lauerman a market ing firm has added new employ ees at both its Omaha and Lincoln offices In Lincoln: Raleigh Drennon is associate creative di rector Nino Kapetanovic inter active developer Dawn Kjeld gaard project manager and Brandon Oltman graphic de signer In Omaha: Meghan Kifer is project manager and Derek Peterson traffic manager Warren reeman has be come marketing manager at Pi pac Life in Cedar alls Iowa He previously was with the Princi pal inancial Group Kelly Med wick has become the account executive in Lincoln for the Nebraska Radio Network and Brownfield Ag News for America Amanda Peterson has joined Redstone Communica tions as a media buyer She pre viously was a marketing man ager for DRM Inc Jeaneen Scott has been named accounting specialist with the Boy Scouts of Mid America Council named Vance Gardiner Timothy Manion Michael McGIade and John Ramsey new directors on its board Charly Huddleston of Schemmer Associates Inc has been named president of the Sarpy County Economic Devel opment Corp 9 The Merchants Associ ation has named the following of ficers: Don Meier president treasurer Debra Grotelueschen vice presidentsecretary and Joe Siedlik sergeant at arms The shareholders of Schem mer Associates Inc recently elected members to the board Staff members who also will serve as directors and principals of the firm include: rank Comi sar president and chief execu tive Linda Weaver Beacham ex ecutive vice president Charly Huddleston executive vice pres ident William Cramer Brad armer Steve Katbol and Terry Wood a liaison to the board Thomas Von Riesen will continue to be a director on the board of the national Association for Advanced Life Underwrit ing Careers Mark Hudson has joined Officers Centennial Bank has Compiled by World Herald staff writer Chet Mullin Credit card reforms aim for fairness NEW YORK (AP) Consum ers may soon get a break from high penalty fees and retroactive rate increases on their credit cards The ederal Reserve and other banking regulators last week proposed new regulations de signed to end unfair and decep tive credit card practices that have cost consumers billions of dollars As ed Chairman Ben Bernanke put it the rules in tended to establish a new base line for fairness in how credit card plans Consumer advocates hail the proposed regulations which are expected to be finalized by the end of the year as a good first step but argue that more re forms are necessary to protect the unwary Gail Hillebrand senior attor ney with Consumers Union the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine said the most important change is that card is suers will be prohibited from boosting the interest rate on out standing balances unless an ac count is delinquent Delinquent as defined by the regulators means the minimum payment been received within' 30 days of the due date get letters all the time from people who paid one day late two days late and got bumped into penalty interest to 29 percent say from 12 or 14 she said new regulations mean that they (card issuers) raise the rate on money already borrowed for no reason or a flimsy Another proposed rule will end a problem involving rates such as the zero percent offers on balance transfers Cur rently credit card companies will take a payment and apply it to the balance with a zero percent rate and not to the balance reflecting new pur chases at a higher rate Under the new regulations the payment will have to be divided among the various categories Card issuers have complained that this is the equivalent of forc ing them to provide consumers with a free loan it is because what you Hillebrand re sponds the person actually will have to get the benefit of the promotional rate they signed up Other proposed changes would prohibit companies from charg ing late fees if their bills been mailed at least 21 days be fore the payment due date and would ban so called double cycle billing which can result in con sumers paying interest on a pre vious balance that al ready has been paid Card issuers say they're wor ried that adoption of the rules could have unintended conse quences Ken Clayton senior vice presi dent of card policy for the Ameri can Bankers Association trade group in Washington DC said the regulations as proposed would make it harder for card is suers to price their products to account for risky customers now people who man age credit well get lower interest and pay lower costs and the majority of Americans out he said some of the proposals may keep us from imposing higher costs on those with higher risk so we would have to impose higher costs on everyone including those who so risky and Sprint Customers declined by 109 million in first quarter Continued from Page 1 one time charges including $231 million for severance and asset impairment and $86 million in deal related costs the company said it earned 4 cents per share compared with 18 cents per share in the year ago quarter Revenue fell 75 percent to $93 billion from $101 billion a year earlier Analysts surveyed by Thom son inancial had expected earn ings of 2 cents per share on $94 billion in sales Sprint which has struggled since buying Nextel Communica tions in 2005 said its total sub scriber base fell by 109 million to 528 million including the loss of 107 million post paid custom ers who pay a monthly bill That was actually smaller than the 12 million in post paid losses the company had forecast last quarter Post paid churn or the mea sure of customers dropping serv ice was 245 percent during the quarter an increase from the first quarter of 2007 and last quarter Average revenue generated per post paid user fell 6 percent from last year to $56 expected our wireless business delivered weak finan cial Sprint Chief Execu tive Officer Dan Hesse said "While the business will continue to face challenges in the short term we are making progress in methodically attacking the sources of our performance is During the first quarter the company introduced a $9999 plan that provides unlimited voice and data services under cutting by price its chief rivals Mobility and Verizon similar unlimited plans It also has revamped its mar keting which has often been crit icized since the purchase of Nex tel as being unfocused The company said it expected to continue feeling pressure on wireless revenue and would have only improvement of post paid subscriber losses in the second quarter However it said it expected its finances to stabi lize toward the end of the year KPTM KXVO to stay on air KPTM and KXVO in Omaha go off the air as a result of the stations' parent com pany filing for bankruptcy protection according to Website The Chapter 11 filing by Pappas Telecasting Inc of resno Calif will have no ef fect on programming accord ing to a message on the site Pappas has 30 stations in 22 markets including stations in Lincoln Kearney Neb Da kota Dunes SD (Sioux City Iowa market) and Ankeny Iowa (Des Moines and Ames Iowa) Pappas listed assets of $4596 million and debt of $5369 million in its filing in federal court in Wilmington Del according to Bloomberg News Pappas said in the filing that it had failed to arrange fi nancing with its creditors that would allow it to sell TV sta tions and that it sought court protection an effort to ac complish an orderly Larson.