A friendly reader who goes by “Fox Buster” forwards along this auto repair industry update on the status of Todd Fox, who closed his 18 Fox Collision repair shops almost a year ago.
In an update from the courthouse, Wichita attorney Ed Nazar remains on case for the time being, and the sale of the final Fox Wichita building on East Kellogg has closed.
The inventory of Safewing Aviation in Kansas City, Mo., will be on the auction block next week.
Don Doroty, who is owner of the air cargo and charter service, plans to liquidate his business, including 10 aircraft, equipment and parts at the auction, which begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The aircraft for sale include seven Piper Lances, two Piper Aztecs and one 25C Learjet.
The auction will be held at the Downtown Kansas City Airport.
If you’re in the market for an airline, the Austrian government wants to sell its share of Austrian Airlines, according to a report by Aviation International News. The government is advertising in the financial press offering its 42.75 percent share of the carrier.
There’s some conditions to the sale, AIN said. A buyer must agree to keep Vienna as a hub, to keep the name Austrian Airlines and to leave 25 percent of the total stock capital in Austrian hands, the report said.
The airline lost nearly $74 million in the first half of the year and expects another loss of $103 million to $133 million in the second half.
The majority of board members reportedly prefer a partnership with German airline Lufthansa. Other potential partners include Air France-KLM, Aeroflot and Turkish Airlines, the report said.
Texas tea closed up almost $6 a barrel today, thanks to a little of this and a little of that: “geopolitical tensions” between the United States and Russia.
Chuckle.
So, in honor of those geopolitical tensions, I’m starting a little blog contest. The blog reader closest to tomorrow’s 8 a.m price at the pump wins an autographed photo.
Of me.
Please form a single-file line for your predictions …
We’re just going multimedia crazy around here on The Eagle Business desk.
We have the paper. The Web site. The
e-mail newsletter. The blog. Now we’ve moved into radio.
On Monday, we started business reports on KFDI. You can hear us every morning at 6:20, 8:20 and 9:20. Deputy editor Tom Shine — the former business editor — has been providing the reports, but you’ll hear each person on the business staff over time. We’ll also be on the radio for breaking business news reports.
So listen in and tell us what you think. If this works out, we might start our own cable network or something.
The $100,000 fine to a Seattle-based home health agency last month should cause health care providers and related industries charged with protecting private patient information to take note, experts say. The government’s cracking down on HIPAA — the patient privacy act — violations.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources said it created a “robust” corrective action plan that requires the company to:
All this happened after HHS received more than 30 complaints against Providence Health & Services for losing unencrypted laptop computers and backup data more than two years ago. AIS Health.com, in a report on patient privacy, wrote that the punitive measures are a signal that the government is taking a tougher stance on HIPAA compliance. Two experts weighed in:
“This is a significant warning sign for covered entities, mainly a heads up that the government is getting more aggressive and [the CAP provides] a checklist of items that companies should be paying particular attention to in their security efforts,” says Kirk Nahra, a partner with Washington, D.C.-based law firm Wiley Rein, LLP.
Adds Chris Apgar, a health care privacy and security consultant, “covered entities need to prepare for the potential that a privacy complaint could lead to financial costs associated with a corrective action plan and the imposition of a ‘fine.’”
Here’s a hearty get well soon for Fran Jabara, the guru of entrepreneurship in Wichita, who’s bouncing back from a health setback.
There’s no one in Wichita business wiser or more willing to share that wisdom than Fran, the founder of Wichita State’s Center for Entrepreneurship.
Get well soon, Fran.
Physician Benjamin Brewer in the Wall Street Journal today advocates using the Internet as a safe, efficient way to cover about 20 percent of his routine, in-person office visits, thus eliminating the hassle and inconvenience of visiting a doctor’s office for something relatively minor.
He writes:
I think 20% of my routine office visits could be handled safely and less expensively over the Internet. There is nothing magical about the four office walls that make face-to-face visits superior. Demanding an in-person visit for every little thing is based on tradition and consensus opinion — not science.
How likely are you, as a physician, to try this kind of patient interaction? Do you feel it’s safe and reliable? What about patients? Are they willing to seek routine, simple help through the Internet? I certainly would! The question remains, however, is if insurance companies and the government are willing to reimburse for it.
Here’s a good link to follow oil prices, especially good today on what’s been a fairly wild ride.
Oil opened up almost $2 a barrel, and in the space of an hour gave $3 back. Hopefully, the Wichita stations were too busy refilling pop machines and selling smokes to notice that $2 a barrel rise this morning.
Or else, unleaded will be about $3.65 when we step out the door to go home tonight.
Harry and Louise want everyone “at the table” when it comes to solving America’s health care crisis. And they’re so … affable.
FamiliesUSA, which advocates universal health care, called them the characters that “helped derail health care reform for the past 15 years.”
Now Harry and Louise are back — and they’re singing a very different tune.
Here’s the new video:
Today is National Aviation Day.
I didn’t realize that until a bit ago when a sharp aviation-supplier executive brought it to my attention. Here in the Air Capital, we should take note.
National Aviation Day was established by a presidential proclamation in 1939 to celebrate the development of human flight. Aug. 19, Orville Wright’s birthday, was designated as the anniversary.
Now, if we could only get the day off.
I’m working on our “Five Questions” feature for this week’s Business Today. It’s on Michael Gates Gill, the speaker for next week’s chamber Chairman’s Breakfast, who insists that his rather spartan existence and his 20-hours-a-week job at Starbucks trump the days when he was a top-paid ad exec or even when he lived in a 25-bedroom house growing up.
“I’m just reporting back, ‘Hey, I’m a lot happier now without a lot of that stuff,’” Gill said.
To which, of course, I replied, “See, I’m willing to give the 25 rooms a shot.”
Still, Gates clearly has some lessons to share. Check out this Thursday’s Business Today, or you might consider attending Tuesday’s breakfast. Call the chamber at 268-1127 for details.