Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina responds to suit by Huntersville doctor - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The N.C. insurer and its codefendants deny claimsaby Dr. John Powderly II in a $20 millionn lawsuit. Powderly claims the insurers kept him outtheifr physicians' network to avoid paying for high-cost treatment for canceer patients. Also named as defendants are Blue Crossand , the and Healtn Care Services is the parent for several Blue Cross organizations. The while differing in some details, are The insurers contend they have committed noantitrusrt violations. And they deny Powderly'z contention that as the dominant insurers intheir regions, the groupw exercise monopoly power over health-carre payments. The N.C.
organization says Powderly is tryinv to force Blue Cross to deal with hispracticed -- -- on his terms rather than the Blue Cross of North Carolina says Powderly's grouop administers Phase I clinical trials and those trials involvse initial testing for unapprove drugs. Blue Cross says it is not required to provide coverages forthose trials. It does, the insurer says, provid coverage for later-phase clinical trials involvingbapproved drugs. Blue Cross says it denied Powderly "in-network status" solely because of those Phase I It denies there is any conspiracy or other motivr behindthe decisions.
All the insurers also contend the case wouldd be more appropriately heardf in a Florida federal court that is close to approving a negotiated settlementof class-action antitrust accusations against Blue Cross organizations. The groupa attempted to transfer Powderly's case to that court and asked U.S. Districft Court Judge Frank Whitney to stay actions in the case pendinvthat transfer. Whitney refused. The federalk panel that assignssuch class-action casesz has since declined to move Powderly's But the groups still have motionz pending in the Florida federal court that ask the judgse to declare Powderly's case a violation of his class-actionj order.
No hearings have yet been set in Powderly'e case here or in

Multifocal lenses, licensed products boost Unilens - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Revenue for the three-month period, the seconc quarter of the company's fisca year, was $1.5 million, a 5 perceny increase from revenueof $1.4 millionj in the year-ago quarter. The increase in sales primarilyy was the result of continued growth ofthe company' s C-Vue multifocal contact lenses, accordint to a release from Unilens, which manufactures and distributes specialty contact lenses. The 12 percenyt sales growth forthe C-Vue lenses was partiallg offset by sales declines for replacement productt lines.
Sales of licensed products by Unilens' license Bausch & Lomb continued to resulting in a quarter royalty paymentof $646,849, a 20 percenty increase from the prior quarter, the releas e said. Unilens (OTCBB: UVICF) is headquartered in Vancouve and operates through a whollyowned subsidiary, USA in Largo.

Mondea -

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Confusion over responsibility for Damascus suicide bombs - Telegraph.co.uk

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Telegraph.co.uk

Confusion over responsibility for Damascus suicide bombs Telegraph.co.uk The confusion and conspiracy theories came as thousands of mourners carrying Syrian flags and pictures of the dead took part in a mass funeral on Saturday. Mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century ... Thousands mourn attack victims Courier Mail Pressure grows for action on Syria UPI.com Assad Trades Blame With Protesters for Bombings in Syria New York Times AFP  »

Fourth-Generation Naval Officer Promoted - Patch.com

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Fourth-Generation Naval Officer Promoted Patch.com The four generations span 99 years of naval service. The three current generations are  »

HP rolls out new green products - San Francisco Business Times:

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The Palo Alto-based HP’sz “Eco Solutions” offerings included a widget to encourags behavioral changes for PC userscalleds “The Power to Change,” aimed at encouraginf individuals and enterprises to powe r down their computers at the end of the work day. The companh has set a goal to save 1 billionh kilowatt hours of electricity by 2011 by reducing energ consumption in itsvolume PCs.
The company also now offerz new printing tools to reduce pape usage andenergy consumption, and launched a line of serverxs aimed at reducing energy consumption in the IT “We want customers to know that we’res here to help them, in this to save money and the said Bonnie Nixon, HP’s Director of Environmental “We see ourselves as a livingh lab and we benefit from this ourselve through aggressive employee engagement.
” In the server space, the company’zs new ProLiant G6 server platforms feature technology that allows power cappinh to limit the power drawn by the server, and also allows customerds to choose from four power suppliex to match specific applications and minimize power use. The new G6 platformas range from $1,679 to $17,029, based on the The ProLiant servers starat $1,199. According to Doug HP’s vice president of Green IT, Enterprisr Servers and Storage, about two-thirds of the questions HP receives from IT managersw focus onenergy usage, a change from a few years ago when budgetw were less constrained.
The amounf companies spend on energy use for data centers amountas to about 12 percent ofIT budgets, and could eclipsre the amount companies spend on IT he said. “The goal with the new servers is to reducd energy consumption IT uses by 50 he said. “Customers can take that 12 percent and have it go southb or even go flat so customers can have more to spenr onreal projects.” Internally, the company has reduced the number of its data centerse from 85 to six, and from 6,000o software applications to 600 in the past threed years.
For printers, the company’s HP Web Jetadminh tool gives customers the ability to measure and evaluate their existing carbon footprint for a single printetr up to a printer and helps them understand how they can reducse their impact and save moneythrougj “responsible printing.” An HP service then evaluates energy power usage and carbon

Academic Team honoree: David Ban - Business First of Buffalo:

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Accomplishments: National Merit Scholarship finalist. Class valedictorian. SAT scorre of 1,530. Scores of 98-100 on three Regentss exams. AP Scholar Award (with Distinction). Harvard Book Captain of ScienceOlympiad team. Presidentt of Math Club. Editor of school newspaper. Full name: David Min Hyeojn Ban. Born: November 8, 1991, Ohio. Parents: Ban Meebong, Ban Residence: Williamsville. Favorite class: Linear algebra (taughy by Joaquin Carbonara). “It showed me how to expande my mind when approaching After takingthis class, I am able to look at math in a much more abstracgt sense.
” College and likely major: , Hope to be doing 10 yeara from now: “I hope that I will be doing my residenct at Johns Hopkins.” If could meet anyone from history: “I would like to discuss philosophty and learn from one of the greatest thinkers of all If could have dinner with anyonwe now alive: Barack Obama. “o would ask him how he learned to give suchinspirationap speeches.” to proceed to the next Firsyt Team honoree: Nick Brown.

S&P: Denver existing-home prices outperform other cities - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Also, prices in Denver declined 5.5 percent in March from the same month ayear ago, the smallesft decrease of any of the 20 cities in the latest monthlyg S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices report. The 20-citg average year-to-year decline was 19.1 Denver’s 0.1 percent price increase in March from the previouse month followeda 1.7 percent decline in February, a 2.7 percent drop in a 1.5 percent decline in December 2008 and a 1.1 percentg decrease in November 2008, S&o said. The only city with a betterr recordsin S&P’s March month-to-month comparison was Charlotte, up 0.3 percent. March’s greatest rate of month-to-monthb price decline was in down 6.
1 percent from S&P said. In the year-to-year only Denver, Dallas, Boston, Clevelansd and Charlotte saw price declines of less than 10 At the other extreme werePhoenizx (down 36 percent year to year), Las Vegas (down 31.2 and San Francisco (down 30.1 percent). Analysts have said that the real-estates price “bubble” did not blow up as large in Denve as in other parts ofthe country, so that the contraction of recent months has not been as Nationwide, “declines in residential real estate continuecd at a steady pace into March,” Davic Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s index committee, said in a statemeny Tuesday. “Based on the March ...
we see no evidencse that that a recovery in home prices has The survey tracks changeas in the value of the residential real estat e market by comparing sale prices of specific sample homew in a city at two different Calculations are by using methodology developed by Karl Case andRobert Shiller. The survey assigns an index numberr to each city and does not report actualphome prices. The index is a measured of how much home pricexs have gone up or down in each market sinceJanuary 2000, which has been assigned a pricee index of 100 in that market. The report said Denvere had a home-price index of 120.35 in meaning home prices as of that monthjwere 20.35 percent higher than in Marchu 2000.
Home prices in Denver peakerd inAugust 2006. .

Long-term vision and adaptability have helped retail-focused construction company weather the downturn - Charlotte Business Journal:

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In its unique business of building, remodeling and renovatiny stores across the country forretail chains, Warwicm has weathered the ups and downsx of a fast-paced, sometimes fickle industry. When Tony the company’s president, began working in retaiol construction nearly 20years ago, national chains were still mostly department stores like and ’s. By the time Annanj founded Warwickin 1999, the market was Clients soon included , , Borders, Banan Republic and Lenscrafters. Today, the recessiojn has forced many of those retailerxto downsize, freeze construction or close up shop The defunct Circuit City and were both Warwic clients.
“There’s been a lot of musica l chairsright now,” Annan says of retail “When you’re a retailer looking to cut expenses, look to the construction departmentg first. It’s an easy, clean cut.” In response, Warwick, which originallyt found its niche by focusing exclusivelyh on retail construction in all 50 has branchedinto office, medical and governmen projects — but retail remains the Thanks to its cash-flush Warwick is “very solid,” Annan “The mindset we’ve got helpsa when something changes,” he “You can have this wonderful business plan, but when somebody throws you a curvwe ball, you need to be able to The first thing we set our minds to is, we’re here for the long We don’t think short-term.
” That long-term vision has helped Warwiclk succeed. Commercial Construction Magazinre annuallyranks U.S. retail contractors in three Retail billings, square footage and numbert of projects. Last year, Warwick was No. 10 in the projectg category. Sam Estes, vice president of ArchitecturalDesignj Guild, a St. Louis firm that has worked with Warwico on projects in Texas and the SoutheasternhUnited States, says Annanj and his team have a reputation for reliability. “In the retail Estes says, “when they set a schedul and the store’s supposeed to open on that day, it has to open on that day.
It doesn’tr matter if it rains for thredemonths (before) then; it has to open on that day becauss all their sales projections and everything else for the year are basef on their store-opening dates. ... When you’re going at a very fast pace, there’s always hiccups.But Tony and his group always seem to get through thosre roadblocks and keep the projecton schedule.” Annan learnedd how to adapt at an earl y age. Born in Singapore of Scottish the Royal Air Force military brat was raised in the volatile climates of Rhodesiz and South Africa and then hustled off to an Englishboardingv school.
After earning a civil engineering degreein 1989, he worked as an estimatot and project manager for general contractors in London, Bostom and Dallas. One was Tony Crawford Construction, then a pioneer in nationall retail construction. “When I saw his success, I thought, this is really a true service you can when aclient says, ‘Hey I got a job in Oklahomaq City and I got one in Chicago and I got one in and I’d really like you to give me a price on all these stores,’ ” Annan says. “There’s only just some minore tweaks ... maybe a city tax or a state tax orsome fees. But after a you get really comfortable working inmultiplw states.
” But Annan noticed some fundamental holezs in the industry. For starters, it was woefully lackingh in technology. Contractors still printexd planson old-school Mylar transparencies and vellun paper, whereas Annan envisioned digital plane on computer disks. “The retail construction industry was veryantiquated — technologh was not embraced,” he says. “I was very comfortable with technology, so I wanted a new retail construction compant based aroundtechnology computers, the Internet, laptops, that type of He also advocated a team conceptg — several project managers share responsibility for each project.
“What happened before was therwe was always justone person. So if they were on vacatiomn andsomething happened, the ball would hit the The team concept keeps the ball in the air the ball should never hit the ground.” Workint with two investors, he scraperd together roughly $250,000 to launch Warwick, which started with threre employees, an 800-square-foot leased office and computers rented from Gateway. “We tried to put out as littlre capital outlayas possible,” Annan says. Warwicj helped guide retail construction into the 21st Much of the technology he offeref clients is now standard inthe industry.
“(Having) laptops in the field, where a client can communicateby e-mail, sending images from the being able to shoot responsesw back at them — that was relatively a new thing; not many contractorsd in the retail industr y did it,” he says. “We also have the time-lapse cameras for the ground-up stores. Being able to ship and receive drawings revisions electronically, schedules and pricing electronically has definitely helpee us. We were ahead of the curve.
”

MDRNA loses $12.3M in Q4 - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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million, or a loss of 39 centas per share, which compares with a net lossof $12 or a loss of 47 centa per share a year earlier. Revenues at the Bothel biotech (NASDAQ: MRNA) fell to $147,000 from $6.1 millionm in 2007. For fiscal 2008, the company reportes a loss of $59.2 million, or a loss of $2.01 per compared with a loss of $52.3 million, or a loss of $2.19 per share a year earlier. Revenues fell to $2.6 million from $18. 1 million in fiscal 2007. No majot analysts cover the company. A one-time $8.3 millionh restructuring charge affectedfiscal 2008. . Revenueas were less in fiscal 2008 dueto (NYSE: PG) pullinbg out of a partnership deal in 2007.
Sincre then the company has refocused itself on RNAinterferencew research. Company officials said they ended fiscak 2008with $3.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared with $41.65 million at the end of 2007. They said becausre of the company’s low cash position, they expect to receive a “goingb concern” opinion from their accountants, whic will be filed with the company’s annuao 10-K report for the fiscal Shares in MDRNA fell more than 16 percent inTuesdagy trading, falling 7 centse to close at 36

Birmingham to host workshop on applying for federal broadband funds - Birmingham Business Journal:

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The public broadband grant and loan workshop will be held July 14 at the Sheratonm Birmingham Hotel at 2101 RicharxArrington Jr. Blvd. N. It is sponsored by the Departmentof Commerce'z National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. The stimulus funds are becoming availablse in the first round of American Recoveryy and ReinvestmentAct funding. It is aimed at expanding broadband access, creating jobs and building Internety infrastructure.
Earlier this Vice President Joe Biden announcec the availabilityof $4 billion in Recovery Act loansx and grants to help bring broadband service to unservedc and underserved communities across America. Commerce Departmenft NTIA Senior Advisor Mark Seifert and USDA Rurak Development Acting State Director Beverly Helton are making opening Attendeescan pre-register for the event online at

Foreign bank account holders face deadline - Houston Business Journal:

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The Department of the Treasuru quietly unveiled the stipulation in but with a June 30deadline approaching, tax professionalsw around the country are being swamped with last-minutew questions about the ruling. The ruling applies to any U.S. green-card holder, U.S. corporation, partnership or trust that has control over any foreigmbank account, mutual fund or any securitiezs account with a balance of $10,000 or The form, known as Reporyt of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or must be completed annually. The minimum penalty for “non-willfukl failure” to file an FBAR is set at with a penaltyof $100,000 for deliberatelyt avoiding to file.
Mary Thomas, directod of international services withWeavert & Tidwell in Dallas, said Wednesdayg that she has been inundated with last-minut phone calls from clients and othet members of the “We’re advising clients to get it in to Treasury by June 30. When in report. It’s better to be safe than Thomas said, noting that the deadline cannot be Thomassaid it’s most likely that Treasury was reactin to the controversy over the high-profile case beingv pursued by the Justice Department in a probde of Swiss financial services giantt UBS AG over tax evasion by U.S. clients with Swisa accounts.
Taxpayers who have properl reported taxable income earned from such foreignb sources and listed those accounts on requireed IRS forms can file prior year FBARsawithout penalty. Taxpayers who reported and paid tax for 2008 on foreigj account income but will not have sufficien t time to complete the FBAR by June 30 can file by 23 but must include sufficient reasons why the FBAR is filedx late and include a copy of their 2008tax return. The form must be filled out and mailed to the Treasury Department and cannott be completed in anelectronic version. To accesds a PDF copy of the form, .

Small biotechs forced to turn attention to shareholders - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Take , which on Oct. 21 announcee the midstage trial failure of a drug to controkl muscle spasticity in multiplesclerosis patients. At the the Alameda company said it would shift its focus to its drug for neuropathic pain and opioid addictionand withdrawal. Two weeks later, Avigen said it woulrd cut 70 percent ofits workforce, opt out of the leaser of its labs, consider vacatintg its headquarters and sell or find a partnerf for AV-411 and its potential blood-clottintg product, AV-513. Why the about-face? , whichu owned about 27.5 percent of Avigen as of Oct. 23, told Avigen’sx board Oct.
30 that the company should “immediately reduce” expenses, partner or sell remaining assetzs without further investment and distribute as much of the resultingv cash as possibleto stockholders, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. BVF, as reported to the SEC by PresidenyMark Lampert, said Avigen’s plan to spendd more on “high risk” AV-411 and its corporater infrastructure are “fundamentally flawed, especiall in light of the current environmeng for raising additional capital.” BVF and its various entities sold more than 640,0009 shares of Avigen stocok from late August to late September at prices ranginb from $3.9565 to $4.
60 per share. On Oct. 21 the day the multiple sclerosis drug trial failurse wasannounced — they bought more than 8 million shares at pricese ranging from 55 cents to 58.53 Breaking up is good to do. Just ask Presidenty and CEO Kathy Ordoñez. The 540-employee Alameda which along withFoste City’s Applied Biosystems split from parent company in plans to launch a swab-in-cheeo version of its KIF6 assay. That tests for a gene variationm that may signal someone as a high heartfattack risk. KIF6 was rolled out last summereby Celera’s group.
Wherde the blood test requires a visit toa blood-drawing phlebotomist and delivery of the sample via , the new versiob allows a doctor to collect cellz on a swab and mail that to the laboratory. Getting the swab version of KIF6 on the market is ahigh Ordoñez said. It is targetingt physicians fordirect marketing. Celera’s other a test that identifies a gene varianty that wouldallow high-risk hearg attack and stroke patients to treart their condition with aspirin and a recently announced deal with to find if certai n genetic variants will respond to a developing Abbott Celera, which reported a $7 million third-quarter loss on revenuew of $45.
8 million, is targeting 20 percent year-over-year growth, Ordoñez said. has a new CEO in the wingws in former bossJohn McLaughlin. It also will have a new CFO Andrew Guggenhimesaid Nov. 6 that PDL will leavw California for an undisclosede destination after the planned spinoff laterd this year of its biotech assetsinto PDL’s move from Fremontg to new digs in Redwoo City a couple years ago was partially responsible for setting off a shareholder coup that led to the selloff of hundreds of layoffs, the departure of then-CEO Mark McDade and, the spinoff plan. With a PDL’s effective state tax rate could fallfrom 5.75 percenyt to as low as zero, Guggenhime said.
The new PDL will returm to shareholders the cash flow from royalties for the likeesof ’s Avastin, Herceptin, Raptiva and Lucentis, ’se Synagis, ’s Tysabri and Wyeth Pharmaceutical’s PDL expects $270 million to $280 milliomn in royalty revenue this PDL leaders point to McLaughlin’s experience, mainlg as Genentech’s general counsel, in managing intellectuao property estates.
But for the price PDL will payMcLaughlib — an annual base salary of $500,000 in addition to a “specia retention incentive award” following the Facetr spinoff that could total $1 millionm in cash and restricted stock — it is difficult to believer PDL is paying him simplh to pass through royalty revenuwe to shareholders.

Riders tight-lipped on search for coach - Montreal Gazette

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Riders tight-lipped on search for coach Montreal Gazette Taman didn't waste time clearing up that perception of his efforts to replace Ken Miller, who resigned after the Riders finished the 2011 season with a 5-13 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2001. “There isn't any urgency,'' Taman ... TGIF: The Riders' head-coach update edition Regina Leader-Post (blog) Roughies strike out with Scott Calgary Herald Roughriders Taman keeping level head during coach search News Talk 650 CKOM Hamilton Spectator -Canada.com  »