Kansas.com: Business

Hospital cuts rates for the uninsured, hoping to draw patients from all over

KAREN SHIDELER — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:18 CST

In an effort to draw new customers, Galichia Heart Hospital is cutting rates for uninsured patients and those with high deductibles.

It also has an agreement with a Florida surgeon who will do procedures in Wichita for patients from here or elsewhere.

The moves are an extension of Galichia Heart Hospital's entry into the medical tourism field, in which hospitals — usually in other countries — offer deeply discounted rates to draw patients.

Lenexa company tracks stock market with its own new index

MARK DAVIS — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:13 CST

A Lenexa company has a new answer to the question "How'd the market do today?"

Investors, however, might not think they need a new answer to a question addressed by the Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor's 500, the Nasdaq composite, the Russell 2000 and myriad other stock indexes.

Still, Lenexa-based Bats Exchange launched its Bats 1000 stock index in July as its own daily read on Wall Street's ups and downs.

Retailers use social media to sell, listen

DORIS HAJEWSKI — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

MILWAUKEE — Kohl's online customers would like to get free shipping on all their purchases. And the right people at Kohl's know it.

That's because free shipping is a constant request from some of the retailer's 720,000-plus fans on Facebook.

In the six months since Kohl's Corp. made its debut on Facebook, the department store chain has amassed one of the largest fan bases among retailers, with 720,000-plus fans, and is part of a trend that has more and more consumer businesses using free social media Web sites.

CEO sees growth ahead

JERRY SIEBENMARK — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:13 CST

Mollie Hale Carter doesn't dislike bank acquisitions. She just wants to make sure that her $1.7 billion bank can get more growth from purchasing another bank than it could through growing without an acquisition.

Carter, president and CEO of Salina-based Sunflower Bank, was in Wichita on Friday.

As the two-time recipient of US Banker magazine's "25 Most Powerful Women in Banking" approaches her five-year anniversary at the bank that's owned by her family, Carter sat down with The Eagle to discuss her philosophy of bank growth, the relevance of Wichita to Sunflower and her short- and long-term goals for one of the state's largest banks.

Real estate coaching works at local agencies

BILL WILSON — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:29 CST

John Prescott was in his element this week, coaching about 75 Wichita residential real estate agents in a meeting room at Immanuel Baptist Church.

It was Coach Prescott’s weekly Wichita visit to motivate his team of salespeople as they tackle a struggling housing market.

“I guess I am a coach,” said Prescott, a North Carolina man who is a master faculty member at Keller Williams Realty’s Mega Achievement Products Systems program, or MAPS.

National unemployment tops 10%

JEANNINE AVERSA and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

NEW YORK — Just when it was beginning to look a little better, the economy relapsed Friday with a return to double-digit unemployment for only the second time since World War II and warnings that next year will be even worse than previously thought.

The jobless rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983. It was another worse-than-expected report casting a shadow over the struggling recovery.

President Obama called it "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead." He signed a measure to extend unemployment benefits and extended a tax credit for homebuyers.

Many big companies sitting on cash piles

STEVEN MUFSON — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

In the summer of 2008, steel giant Nucor decided to raise some cash. It issued new shares of stock and floated some corporate bonds.

As financial markets crumbled, the company ignored pleas from some investors and analysts that it buy back shares, which are now selling for about half their peak.

Today, as a result, Nucor has a $2.2 billion cash hoard — and one year into the great recession, its chief executive Daniel DiMicco is sitting on it.

Security 1st Title is now largest in Kansas

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:02 CST

Last month, Have You Heard? reported that after three decades, Craig Burns left First American Title and had plans to open a new company.

He's now formed Security 1st Title and, with partners, has purchased First American operations in six metropolitan Wichita counties.

Burns says that creates the largest title insurance company in Kansas.

Downtown planners to seek input from public

BILL WILSON — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:30 CST

Downtown planners will kick off a six-month public engagement process in December, seeking broad input on downtown revitalization.

The city of Wichita, Wichita Downtown Development Corp. and Visioneering Wichita, working with downtown planning consultant Goody Clancy and other groups, will gather input from the public and downtown stakeholders.

The Goody Clancy team and its economic analysis partners will be in Wichita over the next six months, conducting numerous meetings to gather the public's input on downtown's future.

Spirit CEO concerned about Airbus, Boeing

MOLLY McMILLIN — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:59 CST

Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner says he's concerned that Boeing and Airbus might cut production on single-aisle, narrow-body jetliners.

There are sign that rates should be trimmed, Turner said Thursday during a conference call after the company reported its third-quarter results.

"I felt terrible three months ago and six months ago — terribly worried I should say," Turner said in response to whether he feels better than he did three or six months ago on whether rates will hold. "And I remain that way."

General aviation deliveries down 47%

MOLLY McMILLIN — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Deliveries of general aviation aircraft have fallen 47 percent in the first nine months of 2009 when compared with the same time a year ago.

Planemakers worldwide shipped 1,587 piston aircraft, turboprops and business jets in the first nine months, down from 2,982 a year ago, according to figures released Thursday from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

Billings, meanwhile, are down 23.5 percent.

Borders to close last Walden in Wichita

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Wichita's last Waldenbooks is closing. The Waldenbooks at Towne West Square is one of 200 stores Borders Group plans to close in its Waldenbooks and Borders Express segment, which includes outlet stores.

"We think it's a good strategy for our overall business," says spokeswoman Mary Davis .

Borders Group, which is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the nation's second-largest bookstore chain.

Hawker Beechcraft sees lower sales and income on declining deliveries

MOLLY McMILLIN — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Hawker Beechcraft recorded lower sales and operating income in the third quarter as aircraft deliveries fell, the company said Thursday.

Net sales for the quarter totaled $757.7 million, a decrease of $25.6 million from a year ago.

The decline is due to continued weakness in the general aviation market that has significantly hurt deliveries, the company said.

Associated lands Wesley Medical Center account

JERRY SIEBENMARK — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Wesley Medical Center has chosen a new advertising agency to handle its work in 2010, and its current agency said it has decided to sever its ties early with the city's second-largest hospital.

Howerton and White said Thursday that it had resigned its account with Wesley.

Associated has been selected as Wesley's new agency of record.

Good economic news sends Dow Jones over 10,000

TIM PARADIS — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

NEW YORK — A bright forecast from Cisco Systems and upbeat economic news sent stocks soaring Thursday and propelled the Dow Jones industrials back above 10,000.

The rally, coming a day before the government's October employment report, showed that investors are regaining their optimism about an economic recovery.

The Dow bolted up 203 points, or 2 percent, while the Nasdaq composite index, led by Cisco's outlook, rose nearly 2.5 percent. The market's move continued a streak of volatility that began last month, but this latest surge was powered not by a single event, but by a wave of good news:

WaterWalk focus shifts to retail and office space

BILL WILSON — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:53 CST

WaterWalk's new management is shifting focus from its predecessors, retaining a major Wichita commercial broker to attract office and retail tenants in a move to draw traffic to the struggling 7-year-old development.

Owner Jack DeBoer will target office and retail customers first with his move to retain NAI John T. Arnold Associates, marking a shift from the original emphasis on creating an entertainment district filled with bars and restaurants.

DeBoer will use the commercial broker to generate the business traffic needed to support entertainment development down the line, Doug Rupe, a spokesman for DeBoer's Consolidated Holdings, said Thursday.

For machine shops, it's a balancing act

RICK PLUMLEE — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:56 CST

The squeeze on Wichita area machine shops is getting tighter.

No surprise.

Many have their work tightly wrapped up in aircraft, so that industry's troubles are cascading over the shops.

Film studio proposed for Union Station

BILL WILSON — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:57 CST

A $90 million plan to convert key pieces of downtown real estate into a movie studio could go before the Wichita City Council as early as this month.

The plan, which would be funded by industrial revenue bonds and tax breaks, would utilize all or part of Cox Communications' Union Station campus and the old Spaghetti Works building to make movies in Kansas. Both buildings are near Intrust Bank Arena.

That's property that's been targeted by city officials and downtown redevelopers for retail and commercial development.

Caffe Posto tells clients thanks and goodbye

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:54 CST

A challenging economy and increased competition is forcing Caffe Posto to close less than two years after opening near Douglas and Oliver.

"The economy is the biggest part," co-owner Kay Conklin says.

She and her husband, Cory , and Jacob Liquor Exchange wine director Jamie Stratton opened Caffe Posto in March 2008.

Wichita doctors look to state to start health information exchange

KAREN SHIDELER — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:50 CST

Wichita's health care community has stepped back from planning a health information exchange, deferring to efforts to create a statewide system supported by federal funding.

But local health care leaders still hope to have the initial part of a system in place before the end of next year.

A health information exchange would allow hospitals, medical practices, labs and pharmacies to tap into a central source of information about patients, such as what tests they'd had or what medications they'd been prescribed. That could decrease errors and increase efficiency.