http://www.ajc.com The latest headlines from AJC en-us Copyright 2008, Cox Newspapers Inc., AJC Wed, 9 Jul 2008 12:09:14 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/delta/stories/2008/07/09/delta_kentucky_crash_lawsuits.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/07/09/delta_kentucky_crash_lawsuits.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:10:41 EDT Lexington, Ky. — A federal judge has dismissed Delta Air Lines from more than 19 pending lawsuits involving a plane crash that killed 49 people two years ago. U.S. District Judge Karl Forester said in a 13-page opinion Tuesday that no Delta employee could be held liable for the crash of Comair Flight 5191. Comair is a subsidiary of Delta, but Delta argued that each has separate management and policies, and employs its own pilots. "We're pleased with the court's decision," Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Wednesday. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/07/08/delta_md_80_inspection.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/07/08/delta_md_80_inspection.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 21:32:50 EDT The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring Delta Air Lines and other carriers to inspect their MD-80 aircraft over a two-year period to detect cracking that could sever the frame or cause other damage. The airworthiness directive issued Tuesday goes into effect Aug. 12 and requires the airlines to complete repetitive inspections for the cracking. While Delta and American Airlines had to cancel hundreds of MD-80 flights this year after the FAA ordered a check of maintenance records, this airworthiness directive is a more standard procedure that can be handled during regular maintenance, the carriers said Tuesday. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/recordant_sales_software.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/recordant_sales_software.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 20:26:38 EDT Salespeople know the right word can seal a deal. The question is which word is the right one? An Alpharetta company has technology that could provide the answer. Recordant, a 5-year-old firm, has developed a computer program that pinpoints passages in recorded conversations that can be analyzed to improve job performance, including sales. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/cobb_emc_bowers.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/cobb_emc_bowers.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 18:30:46 EDT When Cobb EMC, Cobb Energy and the electric customers who are suing them try to reach a legal settlement in coming weeks, a familiar face will be in the middle. Former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers will handle mediation in the 8-month-old lawsuit, an attorney for the electric cooperative said. The litigants, who are tentatively scheduled to go to trial in October, have agreed to negotiate until Aug. 15. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/top_40_diversity.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/top_40_diversity.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 18:02:58 EDT What do a talking duck, brown sugar water and an army of bedecked-in-brown delivery drivers have in common? Diversity. So says Black Enterprise, the business monthly magazine in its annual list of the 40 best U.S. companies for diversity. Georgia's showing among the top 40 were Aflac, the Columbus-based supplemental insurance company, Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta and Sandy Springs-based UPS. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/07/08/comair_job_cuts.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/delta/stories/2008/07/08/comair_job_cuts.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 15:55:19 EDT Delta Air Lines subsidiary Comair is cutting 300 pilots and 220 flight attendants from its staff. The layoffs will go into effect when Comair cuts its flight schedule in September as part of Atlanta-based Delta's capacity cuts. The move will affect crew members based at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Erlanger, Ky.-based Comair has 6,300 employees, including 1,477 pilots and 940 flight attendants. The airline has already cut more than 6 percent of its administrative staff since January, Comair spokesman Jeff Pugh said Tuesday. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/cobb_emc.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/08/cobb_emc.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 13:21:55 EDT Cobb EMC should collect more than $13 million from its business affiliate, Cobb Energy, and clean up conflicts of interests between the two entities, a special committee reported Monday. The committee found the electric utility's board never properly approved increasing a management fee paid to Cobb Energy in 2005. The fee was raised from 6 percent to 11 percent that year. The co-op should recover the difference between the two percentages, about $2.5 million per year, for four years, the committee said. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/post_properties_layoffs.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/post_properties_layoffs.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Mon, 7 Jul 2008 21:54:35 EDT Post Properties laid off several employees Monday, according to a statement issued by the company's CEO. President and CEO David P. Stockert said the employees were "mid-level managers and administrative associates," but he did not specify job titles or the number of people laid off. According to the statement, the layoffs were a reaction to economic conditions. Post has been hit hard by the sagging real estate market. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/stimulus_checks_adult_sites.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/stimulus_checks_adult_sites.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Mon, 7 Jul 2008 20:42:38 EDT Seems Uncle Sam's economic stimulus checks are boosting an unlikely part of the economy. Adult entertainment Web sites began seeing a spike in business shortly after the first wave of checks went out in mid-May, according to Adult Internet Market Research Co., a New York firm that tracks the adult online world. [ Submit your comments below. ] http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/health_museum_property.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2008/07/07/health_museum_property.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6 Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:21:25 EDT The proposed National Health Museum has a couple of basic ground rules as it searches for a home in downtown Atlanta. It wants to be close to Centennial Olympic Park, and it needs a footprint of at least 50,000 square feet, a little more than an acre. Several sites where there's now parking along Centennial Olympic Park Drive fit the bill. They're all a short walk from the American Cancer Society headquarters and park-area tourist attractions — the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, the the children's museum and CNN.