Wichita has become a sort of ground zero for the national debate on whether pantyhose is apropos in the workplace.
You can thank Mid American Credit Union.
It all started when MACU president Jim Holt wrote a Wall Street Journal columnist to ask her whether other companies had in place a policy that female employees wear pantyhose while on company time. Holt’s query landed him and executive director of administration Kristen Spear on the pages of the WSJ last week.
And today, they and their employer were the focus of a Good Morning America report.
Oh, and the final ruling? Pantyhose are out in the workplace.
An interesting letter to the editor from the general manager of the Holiday Inn Select over the weekend. Peter Berman pointed out that it wasn’t fair for the city to subsidize a competitor — the new owners of the Broadview want $25 million in aid from the city — with what are essentially his tax dollars.
His letter underscores the problem that occurs whenever the city gets into the corporate aid business: The playing field is no longer level. That’s part of what brought objections from Bill Warren when the City Council was interested in spending millions of dollars on an entertainment venue in Cowtown (Warren later dropped his objections and the city later delayed its plans for a theater).
The city has a legitimate interest in seeing the Broadview succeed. It needs another convention-quality hotel for downtown. But at what point does its interest unfairly unburden other businesses?
It’s nothing new that large community hospitals and (mostly) Democratic lawmakers would like to see physician-owned hospitals go the way of the 8-track, but an article in the New York Times emphasizes just how far some political opportunists will go:
For years, Democrats have been trying to stop the proliferation of doctor-owned hospitals, in the belief that they drive up costs by encouraging doctors to order more procedures.
Now Democrats in Congress are moving to impose new restrictions on these for-profit hospitals, but they have carved out exemptions for a few institutions represented by influential senators and well-connected lobbyists.
While it’s commendable to argue both sides of the coin — both kinds of hospitals make valid points — the arguments lose some merit when padded with such self-serving avarice as this.
Hey — most physician-owned hospitals are struggling. So where’s the money for Kansas?
ABC News spent some time recently with Wichita’s Johnathan Goodwin, the guy who converts gas-guzzlers into mean, green, fuel-efficient machines. The story will air tonight (5:30 p.m., KAKE Ch. 10) and there is an accompanying story at ABC News’ Web site.
His work has many wondering why the big automakers can’t simply reconfigure their assembly lines to make their own cars run as efficiently as Goodwin does.
“I don’t know why GM hasn’t done it,” says Goodwin, who figures he’d be out of business if they did. “But I can tell you that all the parts that I use for the conversion — 95 percent — are all GM parts. I’m not reinventing anything.”
In case you missed it, The Eagle did a story earlier this month on Goodwin and his work with musician Neil Young.
Man, that weekend was short. Hopefully the week will be, too.
Here are your links for Tuesday:
- The average price for gasoline hit $4 a gallon over the weekend, another psychological blow to Americans, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The New York Times says the strain of high fuel prices hits rural America the hardest.
- Is the American Dream dead? That’s what USA Today is asking after 54 percent of the people it surveyed said their standard of living is no better today than it was five years ago.
- And in more uplifting news, Lehman Brothers says it lost $2.8 billion in the second quarter. Yowza.
- Honeywell said today it is selling its aerospace fasteners and hardware distribution business to B/E Aerospace for $1.05 billion.
If you see a story out there that Coffee Break readers would enjoy, send me the link at dloving@wichitaeagle.com.
It’s the longest running restaurant rumor in Wichita, apparently, and there’s not a shred of truth to it – yet.
Amidst all the Wild West World hoopla last week, we made a few calls to check out the persistent reports that Ruth’s Chris Steak House is headed for Bradley Fair – depending on the rumor to replace Cibola, which could be bound for Olive Tree space.
Not true, say everyone from George Laham to the Ruth’s Chris people themselves. In fact, there’s no space available at Olive Tree and Cibola officials say they’re set at Bradley Fair for the long-term.
However … Ruth’s Chris is working on a secondary market plan for smaller markets such as Wichita. There continue to be reports of a franchisee’s interest in Wichita and there are no absolutes in the restaurant industry.
Just another 18 months or so with no Wichita project on the drawing board.