Since it’s a new decade, it’s time to catch up on the tech advancements we missed in the aughts.
Without further ado, Twin Ports Business is now on Twitter.
Here’s the first tweet: "The latest business news and economic tidbits in Northeastern Minnesota from the Duluth News Tribune’s Twin Ports Business. Now on Twitter."
We’ve set it up for RSS feeds to go from our blog to Twitter, so you can never, ever miss a post.
Tweet, tweet, tweet.
OSHA caught this construction worker putting himself in a somewhat unsafe position while working on the recently completed Weiland Block development in downtown Duluth. This photo made OSHA’s "Best of the Worst" slideshow from 2007 and 2008.
This picture is very mild compared to the other daring acts. Check them out here.
It’s a win-win-win.
With the purchase of certain new refrigerators, dehumidifiers, or clothes washers, you can earn not only cash back and better energy efficiency, but you can help homeless people to boot.
A rebate program from Minnesota Power’s Energy Star appliances helped raise “a significant contribution” for the United Way’s St. Louis County Ending Homelessness Program, said a news release today.
For every qualifying purchase, Minnesota Power customers were eligible to receive a $2 to $50 rebate and the United Way receives a $1 to $25 contribution to the homelessness program.
A news conference at 1 p.m. this afternoon at Eastridge Community Church, 3727 Arrowhead Rd., will reveal the amount of that “significant contribution.”
The Midwest is the only region in the U.S. where the unemployment rate dropped from August to September, the Associated Press reported.
The jobless rate in the Midwest slightly fell to 9.8 perceont from 10 percent in August.
The Midwest was about the only bright spot on the map.
The unemployment rate rose in 23 states and fell in 19 states.
Nevada, Rhode Island and Florida in September posted their highest jobless rates on records dating to 1976, the Labor Department said.
Michigan reported the nation’s highest unemployment rate at 15.3 percent. It was followed by Nevada at 13.3 percent, Rhode Island at 13 percent, California at 12.2 percent and South Carolina at 11.6 percent.
There were some bright spots: Ohio and Indiana, two states hit hard by the downturn in manufacturing, reported significant drops in unemployment.
Looking to expand beyond 80 restaurants in 10 states, Maid-Rite Diner has targeted Duluth as a possible new market.
Maid-Rite Corporation in Des Moines is seeking a franchisee to serve its "loose meat fresh ground beef sandwiches" at a restaurant in our area.
"We start with demographics and population trends and what the community has to offer," said Kathy Murphy, purchasing manager and executive sales assistant with Maid-Rite. "We have a hometown personality and don’t want to go into something too big. We’ve been talking to people [in Duluth] who think we would be a good fit."
Lining up a franchisee can sometimes take up to three years, Murphy said. Once they are on board, the restaurant can open within about four months.
"It all depends on the candidate and how quickly they want to move," Murphy said.
A franchisee agrement can range from $250,000 to $350,000.
The Minnesota Maid-Rite Diners are in Brainerd and Bemidji.
Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent in September, which is 1.5 percent below the national average and a drop from the state’s August rate of 8 percent, said the Associated Press.
The Duluth-Superior metro area saw an increase of 1,300 to 1,400 jobs in September, with regional unemployment figures due out next week, said regional labor market analyst Drew Digby.
Digby said the increase came from educators returning to classrooms this fall as well as upticks in mining and construction.
On the state level, about 19,000 fewer people sought unemployment help, and the number of people who were employed grew by 15,000.
Five of Minnesota’s 11 industry sectors added jobs. But Minnesota is still 124,400 jobs below the number that existed in September 2008. The state shed 7,900 jobs last month.
The parent company to more than six small Northland newspapers is feeling the pinch of a shrinking industry in a tough economy.
American Consolidated Media of Dallas posted a third-quarter earnings drop of 21 percent and expects to be out of compliance with its bank loan terms, said a news release from ACM’s parent company Macquarie Media Group in Sydney, Australia. Macquarie warned that while ACM has generated positive cash flow, the company might not be able to meet the covenants of its $133 million loan.
That means lenders eventually could take ownership of the media company, Macquarie said.
ACM owns the Superior Publishing Company, which holds the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, the Hibbing Daily Tribune, the Grand Rapids Herald-Review, Manney’s Shopper, the Daily Press in Ashland and the Sawyer County Record in Hayward, among others.
Third-quarter earnings at ACM were at a “lower rate of decline” than what the company experienced in the first six months of 2009, the release said.
ACM owns and operates about 100 community newspapers in 10 states with a weekly circulation of nearly 1 million. ACM was founded in 1998 and acquired by Macquarie Media in 2007.
Two bits of good economic news from the Associated Press came across the business wires this morning. The nation’s stores saw their first sales gain in 14 months and the number of jobless claims fell to the lowest level since January.
Both news items were each hedged with speculation that the economic recovery is not going to happen quickly.
On shopping: The International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs preliminary tally registered an increase of 0.1 percent for September, compared with a 1.0 percent drop a year ago. While still tepid, the results mark the first gain since July 2008, when the index was up 1.3 percent.
On jobs: The fourth drop in new claims in five weeks is a sign the labor market is slowly healing. But employers are reluctant to hire new workers and the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing well into next year.
It was supposed to be a benefit for local food shelves, but rumors of forced labor are making Saturday’s fundraiser at a local Great Clips seem a little less altruistic.
Anonymous e-mail tips to the News Tribune and a posting on Craigslist both allege that the Great Clips in Cloquet is forcing employees to work for free during the Haircuts for Hunger benefit where customers can donate money or a non-perishable food item to help area food shelves.
Linda Ayres, owner of the Cloquet Great Clips, was startled when she read the Craigslist posting and said the rumors are unsubstantiated.
“I just read this here and thought, ‘this is funny because my employees brought it to me,’ ” Ayres said. “Not sure where the rumor circulated from. When I got a call from one of my coworkers this morning I was like, ‘Whoa. Who is saying this?’ ”
Contact with the tipster has not yet been made.
Ayres said her employees in Cloquet approached her in June about the fundraiser, and she said she would give the store over to the good cause. Then, she got her other stores in the Miller Hill Mall area and the Mount Royal Shopping Center on board.
“There is no requirement that you have to do it,” Ayres said. “There is no requirement of how many hours. There is no requirement of having to be there that day. Those who want to be there will be there.”
Bobbie Netzel, an employee at the Cloquet Great Clips, confirmed that.
“Everybody working is volunteer-based,” Netzel said.
The downtown Duluth music store Musicality has expanded to a larger, more visable location on the 300 block of West Superior Street.
Moving from the skywalk level to street level, Musicality was able to add 800 square feet and increase visibility on one of Duluth’s major streets. Musicality provides lessons, a recording studio and instrument repair.
"It’s a lot better space and people can see that I’m actually here," said owner Kyle Sitter, who opened the store in the skywalk in September 2008 and moved to the previously vacant location on Sept. 1.
The added space also has allowed Sitter and Musicality to increase the the number of teachers from 8 to 13 to include more marching band instruments such as the clarinet. Musicality has 40 current students and hopes to increase to near 100 with the new digs, Sitter said.
"It’s a better vibe here for learing," Sitter said. "We give then basic lessons and mix in some AC/DC at the same time."
