http://www.ajc.com The latest headlines from AJC en-us Copyright 2008, Cox Newspapers Inc., AJC Sat, 10 May 2008 18:40:07 EDT Newspapers COXnet RSS Generator v1.0 http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/08/17/52/image_1352178.jpg http://www.ajc.com 5 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/hdolympics_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/hdolympics_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Sat, 10 May 2008 16:40:33 EDT There are weight lifters, wrestlers, runners and rowers. Cyclists, pole vaulters, fencers and boxers. Archers, kayakers, sprinters and water polo players. And don't forget the tae kwon do and judo fighters. In all, some 137 athletes work at the Home Depot part time and train the rest of the time as Olympic hopefuls. But as these athletes attempt to make the U.S. Olympic team that will compete this summer in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Home Depot is pondering whether to keep the program. The Olympics job program is a flame the home improvement retailer has kept alive since it first sponsored the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the company's headquarters. The jobs — in which the athletes work 20 hours a week at Home Depot but get paid for 40 — are just one piece of Home Depot's Olympics sponsorship. Another is a large advertising buy during the Games' broadcast on NBC in August, plus the right to use the Olympic rings. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/floodreturn_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/floodreturn_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Sat, 10 May 2008 16:20:49 EDT You might call it the second coming of Patrick S. Flood. The once high-profile CEO of HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., known for his Christian faith-oriented management style, was fired last year from the company he had been a part of for 22 years, just months before it sought bankruptcy protection. For some people, such a public end to a chapter of their professional life would have been enough to send them into semi-obscurity with their golden parachutes. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/bright_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/bright_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Sat, 10 May 2008 16:20:48 EDT The S.W.A.T. team doesn't normally greet UPS cargo shipments in Ontario, Calif., a regional hub for the world's largest shipping company. But this was no ordinary shipment. This was precious cargo — priceless really — originally meant to protect Chinese Emperor Qin when he was buried in 209-210 B.C. But this week, it was UPS that protected the cargo — known as the terra cotta army — as it traveled from Shanghai to Anchorage, Alaska (where it cleared customs), then to Ontario. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/facility_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/10/facility_0511.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Sat, 10 May 2008 15:15:21 EDT In 1986, Robert Moultrie opened a food facility engineering firm with five employees and a big ambition. By 2008, Facility Group had morphed into a well-oiled building machine with nearly 450 employees overseeing construction of jails, schools, courthouses and industrial plants. It has nearly doubled in size since 2006 alone, billing nearly $440 million a year. In recent years, Moultrie and Facility Group seemed to be everywhere. Moultrie hosted political fund-raisers and high-end charity benefits at his lavish home in south Cobb County. He wielded credibility and influence in political spheres, aided by connected political figures who work for him, such as retired Cobb Sheriff Bill Hutson and Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), who is chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee and a marketing executive at the firm. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/bigbrown_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/bigbrown_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 16:21:17 EDT UPS has, after all, placed its bets on Big Brown. It took almost a week, but the Atlanta-based package carrier is now an official and exclusive sponsor of last Saturday's Kentucky Derby winner, Big Brown. "It took a little time to work the details out after the Derby," said Laura Kouns, sponsorship manager for UPS. "We immediately started working on it after the Derby ended." http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/Indonesia_Microsoft_0509.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/Indonesia_Microsoft_0509.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 15:47:47 EDT Microsoft Corp. will focus on growing its own advertising and Internet search business after it withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo Inc., Chairman Bill Gates said Friday. Microsoft has not presented an alternative strategy to compete with its dominant rival in the Internet business, Google Inc., since withdrawing a $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo Inc. last weekend. Analysts have been left wondering how the world's largest software maker will increase its share of that multibillion dollar market without a major tie-up. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/farmbill_ga_cox0509.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/farmbill_ga_cox0509.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 15:28:49 EDT Earlier this week in Tifton, Don Koehler, director of the Georgia Peanut Commission, finished some work on his farm and went inside to digest the news from Capitol Hill about tighter limits for agriculture subsidies. Congress had announced that it had completed a $286 billion farm bill with a lower income limit for subsidy recipients, ending months of negotiations dramatically overshadowed by veto threats from President Bush and media scrutiny at a time of worldwide anxiety over record food prices. "When I look at it, I just don't think it's going to affect a lot of us in Georgia," Koehler said. "I don't think I know anybody who even reaches that new limit." http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/coke/stories/2008/05/09/cokeolympics_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/coke/stories/2008/05/09/cokeolympics_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 11:33:01 EDT Olympic-themed Coke cans, bottles and packages will start hitting stores May 19, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. said Friday. The cans, bottles and packages will feature for the first time the Coca-Cola script in different languages in the United States. New designs will appear every two to three weeks. Languages for the cans and fridge packs include Ethiopian, Russian, Thai and Mandarin. Coke's 20-ounce bottles will feature languages from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Korea, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The cans, fridge packs and bottles also will come in English versions. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/OilPrices.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/05/09/OilPrices.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 09:54:14 EDT Oil prices neared $126 per barrel Friday on the eve of the U.S. driving season as a weakening U.S. dollar drove investors to snap up commodities. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record $125.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange near midday before falling back to $125.75, up $2.06 on the day, by the afternoon in Europe. On Thursday, the contract rose to a record close of $123.69 a barrel. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/coke/stories/2008/05/09/simplyorange_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/coke/stories/2008/05/09/simplyorange_0510.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Fri, 9 May 2008 09:50:51 EDT Simply Orange Juice Co., owned by the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., said this week it will add two new varieties to the Simply line: Simply Orange with Mango and Simply Orange with Pineapple. Both varieties, which should debut in mid-August, will feature not-from-concentrate orange juice blended with not-from-concentrate mango or pineapple juice. "Simply Orange with Mango and Simply Orange with Pineapple represent natural additions to the family of products," said Allison Barrett, director of marketing for Simply Orange, in a press statement.