Catch Saturday’s Eagle for the latest from the ongoing saga of Thomas Etheredge’s Wild West World. In the meantime, I’m hoping some of our readers from the banking industry can answer a question that keeps nagging at me:
How does a man essentially without a business plan land millions in loans from small Wichita bank branches?
Our detailed look at Etheredge’s failure over the past year reveals that his loan requests had no traction at Wichita’s large banks.
But the smaller banks – many jousting for local market share – jumped aboard quickly. And we’ve been told that some of the loans were without disbursement oversight. It’s clear that Etheredge used his connections at Summit Church to inspire faith and cash from his friends there. But that doesn’t explain the bank loans.
Was it carelessness? Eagerness for market share? A blind buy-in to a high-profile project?
Engine-maker Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace have formed a joint venture to advance propulsion system technology, the companies said.
The venture is for the research and development of composite materials for use in aerospace engine fan blades, the companies said. Rolls Royce will own 51 percent of the venture, with GKN owning the rest.
Rolls Royce is researching technologies in a move towards a lighter, more environmentally efficient engine.
OK, not to brag — well, not too much anyway — but a column item I wrote on Neil Young is now prominently featured on his Web site. It’s not every day that a newspaper writer in Wichita, Kansas, lands on a rocker’s Web page.
Or so I thought.
After checking out the site a little more thoroughly, I noticed my colleague Joe Rodriguez’s story on Young and Wichitan Johnathan Goodwin, who is converting Young’s ‘59 Lincoln into an electric car, is also posted there. Looks like I have top billing, though, at least for now. The Eagle has another story coming on Young and Goodwin that’s sure to bump me out of the top spot.
The U.S. Air Force “hit a trifecta” in awarding a $35 billion contract to the Northrop Grumman/EADS team for aerial refuelers, according to a new report by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
In doing so, the Air Force chose a “more expensive, less capable aircraft in a manner that undermines our trade laws,” it said.
There is a growing consensus that the “tanker decision is a poster child for the fleecing of America,” the union said. It goes on to list reasons why it says the Air Force’s decision was flawed.
Northrop Grumman responded by saying the paper is a “new chapter in (Boeing’s) disinformation campaign” about the contract.
I didn’t get a ticket on the way in this morning. Things are looking up.
Here’s today’s dose of links:
- The Associated Press has done a story on Pizza Hut, which is marking the 50 years since Frank and Dan Carney opened their first pizzeria in Wichita.
- The number of people signing up for new cell phones is slowing, and USA Today reports that could be a good thing for those of us in the market for a new one.
- Americans should be celebrating as gas prices continue to rise. At least that’s what is being said in story at Marketwatch, where the columnist gives eight reasons why higher fuel prices will do us a world of good.
Remember, if you see stories that you think should be included in Coffee Break, send them to me at dloving@wichitaeagle.com.
Wichita spoils a person.
So my complaint today is going to ring a bit hollow in a city where you can get anywhere in 20 minutes, thanks to the foresight of developers and city fathers.
But I’ll tell you what: There’s nothing I’d like to see downtown more than a Dillons. Or a Wal-Mart. Or anywhere nearby I can go to pick up a bottle of contact lens solution – for less than $10 – or a heaping pint of chicken fried rice without driving out of my way to the suburbs to wage hand-to-hand combat with the battalions of Wichita workers with the same after-work ideas.
It might happen. Wal-Mart reportedly has developed a multi-story downtown business model that it could implement across the country. And if you’ve been paying attention in Wichita lately, Dillons is fine-tuning its approach to groceries with new sites and new stores across town.
But talk is cheap. Get back to me, Wal-Mart and Dillons officials, and let’s get this downtown grocery store going.