http://www.ajc.com The latest headlines from AJC en-us Copyright 2008, Cox Newspapers Inc., AJC Tue, 2 Dec 2008 23:26:06 EST 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/2008/12/02/cobb_emc_settlement.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/cobb_emc_settlement.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 18:45:56 EST A 14-month legal war between Marietta electric cooperative Cobb EMC and its customers ended Tuesday, when a judge approved a settlement of the case. The co-op will spend an estimated $47 million to regain control of the business it turned over to a for-profit affiliate, Cobb Energy, 10 years ago. In exchange, it will get back the electric meters, linemen and other employees transferred to Cobb Energy in the late 1990s. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/turner_suit_spirit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/turner_suit_spirit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 18:10:19 EST Lawyers for David McDavid on Tuesday pulled out e-mails and reread court testimony to convince the jury that Turner Broadcasting System cheated the Texas businessman out of buying the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights. "'The deal was done,'" one witness said. "'Hang in there, we are sort of gaming this thing,'" read an e-mail from one Turner official to another. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/georgia_dome_finances.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/georgia_dome_finances.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:46:17 EST Despite the Atlanta Falcons' winning ways, the Georgia Dome is facing tough economic times. Operators had anticipated profit of $20.2 million in October, but actually made $1 million less. The reason: a $1 million-plus shortfall in the sale of suite licenses, Georgia World Congress Center Director Dan Graveline told the GWCC Authority board Tuesday. The GWCC operates the dome, the GWCC convention center and Centennial Olympic Park. Graveline said another problem has been advertising sales, which are down because of the recession. The facility has been able to offset some of the loss in anticipated revenue by lowering expenses, Graveline said. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/beazer_homes_earnings.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/beazer_homes_earnings.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:34:53 EST Struggling homebuilder Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter loss more than tripled, and the chief executive told Wall Street he expects losses will likely continue through 2009. Ian J. McCarthy, CEO of Atlanta-based Beazer, told analysts that despite uncertainty over the depth of the economic downturn, "we should realistically expect that both (home sales) and average sales prices will be lower in fiscal 2009 and that we will again likely incur a loss for the year." The loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled $473.9 million, or $12.29 a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $155.2 million, or $4.03 a share. The loss from continuing operations totaled $12.32 a share in the latest period. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/john_bogle_outlook.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/john_bogle_outlook.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 11:55:12 EST John C. "Jack" Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group Inc., is 79, and has seen 10 bear markets in more than five decades in the investment business. So is he questioning his fundamental beliefs amid a U.S. recession that was officially declared Monday, and has erased trillions of dollars in stock market value? Hardly. The founder of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund — the first index mutual fund, created in 1975 — is more vocal than ever in urging long-term investors to bet on the market as a whole rather than picking individual stocks. It's a low-cost alternative to actively managed funds, and an approach that Bogle championed during more than two decades as Vanguard's chairman and chief executive. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Bogle discusses his expectations for a market rebound, and a slow economic recovery from recession. He also talks about his own portfolio, and yours: http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/12/02/delta_flights_labor.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/12/02/delta_flights_labor.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:04:22 EST Delta Air Lines plans to cut its capacity by 6 to 8 percent in 2009 and shrink its workforce, the company announced Tuesday. The reduction includes a domestic capacity cut of 8 to 10 percent and an international capacity cut of 3 to 5 percent. The announcement follows Delta's 14 percent cut of domestic capacity in the second half of 2008. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/hawks_thrashers_lawsuit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/02/hawks_thrashers_lawsuit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Mon, 1 Dec 2008 21:05:48 EST The question of whether Turner Broadcasting System cheated Texas businessman David McDavid out of buying the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights is scheduled to get handed to the jury Tuesday. But first, lawyers for both sides will have two hours each to present their final arguments. McDavid signed a letter of intent in April 2003 to buy the professional teams and arena rights from Turner. The letter, granting exclusive negotiations, expired 45 days later, but the parties continued their talks. In September of that year, Turner announced it would sell the teams to an eight-man investor group, which includes the son and son-in-law of Ted Turner, founder of the Atlanta-based media company. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/01/economoy_recession.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/12/01/economoy_recession.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Mon, 1 Dec 2008 19:56:08 EST It's official -- though not exactly shocking. After a modestly paced, six-year expansion, the nation's economy entered recession last December -- the last month that the economy added jobs, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday. This national downturn is already as long as those of 1990-91 and 2001 and shows signs of dragging through much of next year. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/12/01/cobb_emc_hearing.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/12/01/cobb_emc_hearing.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13 Mon, 1 Dec 2008 19:55:31 EST A judge is scheduled Tuesday to hear testimony, and will probably rule, on a settlement deal between Cobb EMC and its customers. They sued the Marietta-based co-op in October 2007, saying an operating agreement between the co-op and a for-profit affiliate, Cobb Energy, had siphoned co-op assets and enriched insiders. Here's what's on the table, including an accounting firm's estimates of what it will cost Cobb EMC to regain control of its business and what it will get in return. All except totals are rounded. Cobb EMC gets... http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/12/02/cobb_school_construction.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/12/02/cobb_school_construction.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13 Mon, 1 Dec 2008 19:55:11 EST The Cobb school system has $800 million worth of construction projects planned, but the Facility Group — whose top executives recently pleaded guilty to illegal campaign finance and related charges in Mississippi — won't get the work. Officials with Lawrenceville's Garrard Construction Group said Monday they bought the Smyrna-based engineering and construction firm's education division and intend to compete for Cobb's next round of taxpayer-financed school construction work. "We would like to continue working for Cobb County. No bones about it," said Danny Jardine, a Garrard official who recently worked for the Facility Group. "But we are not working behind the scenes to have that given to us. We do not mind competing."