News-Record.com

The Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network is offering classes for people interested in launching "high-growth, high impact" companies.

Cost: $299

Dates: Thursdays from 6-9 p.m. Jan 12 through March 16.

Where: Swisher Center Campus of Forsyth Tech in Kernersville.

Stan Mandel of the Babcock Center of Wake Forest University, Tim Janke of the Small Business Technology Development Center and Inception Micro Angel Fund and Tony Johnson of the Small Business Technology Development Center will teach the courses, which include workbooks and business plan software.

For more info contact Jon Obermyer at 533-0025 or jobermeyer@pten.org or register at www.pten.org.

MPACT Learning Center at 2 Centerview Dr. in Greensboro will host a job fair for maintenance positions Thursday from 4-7 p.m.

Three dozen employers plan to attend with about 300 jobs up for grabs. Most hourly positions pay $15-25 per hour. Most popular positions:
PLC programmers, electronic technicians, multi-craft technicians and maintenance managers, according to Joel Leonard of MPACT.

Go to www.mpactlearning.com for directions to the event.

Each Wednesday PTI sends notice of low fares via email. I'm not sure if PTI started the service in response to news that the airport's only discount carrier, Independence Air, was going under. Regardless, it's a good service, akin to US Airways e-savers.

Click here to view the latest fares from all of the airport's carriers.

When Independence Air said that it planned to suspend its service Thursday, several airlines, led by US Airways, either announced or confirmed that they'll be offering reasonable fares for standby service to displaced Independence customers. Sounded like a selfless gesture from the airlines, right? Keep reading.

US Airways sent out a news release saying that for $50 one way, a passenger can book a standby flight on a US Airways route that has the same origin and destination as the Independence flight that was canceled. A reserved seat is $100 one way.

The news release left the impressionn that US Airways was making the offer as a selfless gesture, without mentioning that there's another, more compelling reason.

Other airlines, like the smaller carrier Spirit, chimed in. Biz Buzz called Delta and they said that they, too, would be joining in the offer. Prices were in line with what US Airways is charging.

Is this a sudden burst of altruism from the airline industry? Hardly. It's the law.

Section 145 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (November 19, 2001)requires companies like US Airways to pick up passengers of bankrupt airlines.

Each air carrier that provides scheduled air transportation on a route shall provide, to the extent practicable, air transportation to passengers ticketed for air transportation on that route by any other air carrier that suspends, interrupts, or discontinues air passenger service on the route by reason of insolvency or bankruptcy of the other air carrier.

Other regulations limit the prices they can charge as well.

From January 9-20 Marketplace, the public radio show, will run a series on China from China.

WFDD -- 88.5 out of Winston-Salem -- will run the programs M-F at 6:30 p.m.

Some of the programs look great...

Still has not chosen someone to lead the group. It's been over a year...Dennis Barry, who is chariman of the board, says he does not know when the group will hire someone.

The board has narrowed the candidate pile to a few people but Barry said he does not know if they are the right people for the job.

Meanwhile, the group is set to release a "strategic plan" later this month.

All three heads of the three groups that make up the Partnership have either left or announced they will leave in coming months.

Developer Milton Kern said he just received building permits for two projects: Thai Pan, a Thai restaurant on Elm Street near Fincastle's, and the Flying Anvil, a music club.

Kern estimates that both the restaurant and the club will open in April. For more on the Flying Anvil, see Jeri Rowe's article in Go Triad from October...ambitious plans.

I for one hail the opening of a Thai restaurant downtown. But where is the sushi? Hopefully raw fish will be next.

The January 9 issue of Time profiles Greensboro entrepreneurs Lori Jarrett, husband Ram Sethuraman and Jack Jarrett, founders of VirtuosoWorks.

The company's software -- Notion -- is a music notation and playback program.

The article profiles the ups and downs and transcontinental moves necessary to get the company off the ground.

This morning I received a regular email about labor separation and the quits rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It didn't contain anything particularly exciting. But the stats are a good barometer for how confident people are about finding a job.

A higher rate means more confidence. The BLS unfortunately does not break the information down by city. But stats from throughout the south show that the quits rate has remained steady since 2001. That is not good news.

The Financial Times reports today that Time Warner Cable granted Q Television, a gay station, a "hunting license."

That means that the station can approach the company's 30 regional divisions to ask for distribution.

"So far, that has brought Q to such diverse markets as Manhattan, Houston and as of this month -- Lincoln, Nebraska," said the FT.

Raleigh added Q earlier this month, according to spokesman for the Raleigh division, Brad Phillips.

It comes in on digital channel 480 and can be purchased for $7.95 as an add on to existing packages. It also comes bundled as part of a premium package.

Could the Triad be next? If Lincoln -- and Raleigh are adding Q, I have a hard time thinking the Triad wouldn't.

A local spokesman for Time Warner said he knows of no plans to add the channel. I have a call into Charlotte.

The Piedmont Triad Partnership will hold an economic briefing at the Greensboro-High Point Marriott Airport tomorrow from 11:30 to 1:30.

Jim Clinton, executive director of the Southern Growth Policies Board and economist Don Jud, professor emeritus at UNCG will speak at the event, which is not open to the public.

Clinton's will speak about why regionalism is important (a new topic!); Jud will speak on the state of the Triad economy.

I'll

Small businesses that would like training and tips on hiring and firing; financial management; safety in the workplace; technology issues; and doing business with the government, among other issues, can sign up for "The Business Academy" at the Chamber.

Classes and seminars run throughout the year.

For more info on the Academy call 510-1234 ext 317 or go to the web site: www.greensborochamber.com.

Dean Leary Davis said construction is on schedule at Elon's law school building at the former library building on Greene Street.

He expects to move into the refurbished building in late May. In other news, the school has hired all of its faculty for the fall semester and is missing one professor for a scheduled spring class.

About 20 percent of the first class is filled, said Davis. Of about 70 people who applied early decision, Elon accepted 24. The sooner people apply, the better, he said.

Brothers Jim and Steve Jones, former owners of North State Chevrolet, will start pre-selling units Thursday for Bellemeade Village.

The mixed use development across from the new ballpark will house about 300 condos, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, an office building and potentially a hotel and restaurant space.

The 49 condos in the first phase of the building will range from 1,000 to 1,510 square feet and will be marketed for $250,000 to $375,000. Contact Jim Jones at 314-0018 or Steve Jones at 202-6044 for more information.

On a side note, the city is in the midst of putting together a formula for how to choose economic development projects to fund. Bellemeade and the former Wachovia building are two projects many people have spoken as possible recipients of taxpayer money.

Lynch had been acting as interim head. Now he's assumed the full title.

It's unclear how the decision will affect the Greensboro Partnership's evolution. The GEDP is one of three groups under the economic developer's umbrella. It focuses on recruiting companies to the city.

In the past few months all three of the former heads have resigned or announced that they will resign -- paving the way for a reshuffling of duties.

But Lynch's appointment indicates that the group will maintain the status quo, at least as far as the GEDP is concerned. No new presidents have been named for the other two groups in the Partnership, Action Greensboro and the Chamber.

The Partnership, which merged over a year ago, has not named a president. Officials have said it will release a "strategic plan" in coming weeks.

Turns out Elon Law is not just going to be Elon Law. Someone's name is going to be attached to it -- and revealed on the 26th.

The person is a lawyer. I'm guessing its one of the donors listed below.

MEMO: DONORS
Jim Melvin, president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, said the donors to the law school are:
- Joseph M. Bryan Foundation
- Cemala Foundation
- Weaver Foundation
- Toleo Foundation
- Jefferson-Pilot Corp.
- United Guaranty Corp.
- Robert E. Long Jr.
- Lorillard Tobacco Co.
- John Ellison
- Michael W. Haley Foundation Inc.
- Biscuitville Inc.
- Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey and Leonard LLP
- Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation
- Smith Moore LLP
- Stanley Frank (deceased)
- Margaret Brooks
- Charles Nichols
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
- Samet Corp.
- Joe Brantley
- New Breed Corp.
- Mike Weaver

I think the economists at Northern Trust are some of the most readable out there. They also look behind numbers to ferret out what's really going on.

In a commentary earlier this week Asha Bangalore of NT found that "Hiring in the current expansion is the weakest on record after four years of economic growth."

...."in post war economic recoveries which lasted four years, payroll emplyment increased 11.6%. In the current economic expansion, hiring has increased only 2.6%. In the 1991 economic cycle, after four years of economic growth, payrolls increased 7.2%. The current economic expansion could possibly end with the fewest number of jobs created during an economic cycle in the post-war period."

Sure is not hiding any skin. I flew in to PTI yesterday and was greeted, as all visitors, by two young women wearing skin tight black mini-skirts barely covering the necessities and high heeled boots.

They were welcoming buyers to the Forbidden City's Furniture Show, an alternative to Vegas, supposedly.

Is this the image that the Triad wants to project? They might as well have been reps for Christie's Cabaret. Or maybe they were pushing a new line of Victoria's Secret bedroom suites.

The Greensboro Economic Development Partnership celebrated itself today.

The group took credit for a number of expansions:
-- the $10 million expansion of The Volvo Group that supposed to bring in 150 new jobs averaging about $60,000.
-- luring Comair's maintenance facility, along with 253 jobs (no salary listed)
-- and the decision of American Judicature Society to open an institute for Forensic Science and Public Policy that will work closely with the law school.

On the heels of the story we ran about BellSouth earlier this week, the nonprofit Consumers Union released survey results showing that Internet users are worried about their online freedoms.

The issue at stake here is what's known as "network neutrality," industry lingo for keeping all facets of the Internet as free and accessible as possible for the good of the general public. And the results of the poll, sponsored by Consumers Union, advocacy group Consumer Federation of America, and nonprofit media reform group Free Press, show that consumers don't think companies are all that interested in keeping the 'net neutral.

The economic development group plans to announce who its first chief will be Friday at 10 a.m.

The group has operated for a year without a CEO.

Each of the three groups that make up the Partnership -- Action Greensboro, the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce have operated separately since it formed last January.

In recent months the leaders for each of the three groups has resigned. Dan Lynch was recently named president of the GEDP. But replacements have not been named for the other two groups -- and may not depending on how the new CEO decides to structure the group.

It is not clear that the foundations that fund Action Greensbor will support the group after the end of the year.

For the first time since March 2001, the state's unemployment rate is less than 5 percent, according to figures for the month of December.

Statewide unemployment has been falling for five months now, with employment reaching its highest ever total last month, when it hit 4,141,800.

That puts North Carolina in a slightly better position than the state was in at the start of 2005, when unemployment was 5 percent. It peaked at 5.7 percent in July before beginning its slow downward trend.

December also marked the first time since January 2005 that the state's unemployment rate was equal to or better than the national rate. A year ago, the country saw a 5.2 percent unemployment rate, .2 percentage points worse than North Carolina's figure. Last month, the state and country caught up with one another and stood even.

The largest jumps in employment came from trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities, while manufacturing saw the greatest plummet - a loss of 2,400 jobs. The Employment Security Commission is reporting that last year's overall largest gains game in professional and business services.

So, younger people are more likely to play online games and blog than consumers over the age of 28. Yeah, that seems pretty obvious. That, and the finding that Internet users between the ages of 28 and 70 are more likely to use the Web for banking and travel reservations, came out in a Pew Internet & American Life Project release today.

Perhaps more interesting, and noted in today's New York Times, is a Pew study that came out a couple weeks ago. It eyed the differences in men's and women's Internet use. The Times article points out that married women are more likely to be occasional users of the Internet than single women. And parents with children under 18 are more likely candidates for Internet use than are individuals or couples with older children or no children.

But the gender study went beyond that, and the results are pretty interesting ...

Winston-Salem-based BB&T said earlier this week that it will not loan money to developers building projects where the land was seized by eminent domain.

No other banks have said they plan to follow suit so far. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing local governments to take private property for broad-based economic development purposes. Read the Washington Post article here.

Robin Williams used to utter nano nano on Mork and Mindy. Now it actually refers to something real, if almost invisible.

To promote the field -- which focuses on manipulating tiny particles to make stronger, more durable, more flexible, stain resistant....products, the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network is sponsoring a conference in March.

When: March 9-10
Where: High Point University

Speakers will focus on industry trends and applications for materials and medical science. One example of a nano-engineered product could be a t-shirt that releases medicine. Check with PTEN for more information.

The unemployment rate dipped to 5.0 percent in December from 5.1 percent in November according to seasonally adjusted figures released from the N.C. Employment Security Commission Friday.

Seasonally adjusted figures take into account fluctuations in the workforce due to holidays and other events.

The rate for the Triad is the same as last year at this time. A January report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the Guilford economy growing, but at a snail's pace. From June 2004 to June 2005, the labor force expanded by .8%, placing it 208th of the 323 largest counties.

High Point Council members Tuesday said a workforce study is ready to move off the drawing board and into action.
The Council will officially vote next Tuesday whether or not to move the study - which it commissioned in August 2005 for $70,000 - into its implementation phase.