| Dillard’s converts Metro North store | | Posted Friday, January 05, 2007 1:15:52 PM by Blog57 Team | | Dillard's declined to say what its long-term plans are for the Metro North store. In early September 2006, it announced that it would open a 200,000-square-foot, freestanding store in Zona Rosa in spring 2008, less than five miles from Metro North. Then in mid-October, Metro North, at Barry Road and U.S. 169, announced an extensive redevelopment plan. Preliminary plans for that site, which would be called The Streets at Barry Towne, call for a 2.1 million-square-foot retail, residential and entertainment facility with a theater, commons area for community events and parklike areas. Dillard's is one of the largest apparel and home furnishings retailers in the country, with 330 stores in 29 states, including stores in Independence Center, Oak Park Mall and Ward Parkway Center.... | |
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| | | Summerville resort gains top ratings again | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 11:13:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | The exclusive Woodlands Resort & Inn in a restored 1906 mansion about 25 miles from the coast is the only resort in South Carolina to receive both five star and five diamond ratings for 2007. The Mobil Travel Guide again awarded the Summerville resort, as well as its restaurant, the coveted five-star rating Friday. Only 53 hotels and restaurants in the United States and Canada received five stars. Last week, the Woodlands and its restaurant were again awarded five diamonds by AAA. The Wentworth Mansion in Charleston and The Sanctuary at Kiawah Golf Resort also received five diamonds from the motor club. It's the fourth consecutive year the Woodlands has had a five-star rating for both lodging and dining. It has held the AAA five diamond dining award for 11 years and the five diamond hotel award since 1998.... | |
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| | | Michigan's congressional incumbents favored | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:37:18 AM by Blog57 Team | | DETROIT -- Michigan's congressional incumbents were heavily favored in Tuesday's midterm elections despite a difficult economic climate in the state and low approval ratings for Congress nationally. Democratic Reps. John Dingell of Dearborn and John Conyers of Detroit were poised to lead powerful committees if their party won 15 seats in the House. Republicans were favored to maintain nine of the state's 15 congressional seats. Fourteen incumbents were expected to win re-election while the GOP was favored in a southern Michigan district pitting Republican Tim Walberg against Democrat Sharon Renier. Walberg defeated freshman Rep. Joe Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, in the August primary. The former state lawmaker campaigned on promises to cut taxes and defend traditional marriage against Renier, an organic farmer.... | |
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| | | What's Up Napa Valley: Michelin releases first restaurant ratings | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 1:14:18 PM by Blog57 Team | | Two famed restaurant guides and a popular TV program just released their latest ratings, and Napa Valley establishments naturally did well.The Michelin Guide just released its first San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country ratings, and only the French Laundry in Yountville garnered the coveted three stars.Cyrus in Healdsburg got two, while Auberge du Soleil and La Toque in Rutherford, Bistro Jeanty and Bouchon in Yountville as well as Terra in St. Helena received one.All together, 356 restaurants were rated. .... | |
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| | | FoodHawk.com Celebrates Its First Birthday | | Posted Tuesday, October 24, 2006 3:09:29 AM by Blog57 Team | | November marks the first anniversary of FoodHawk.com, the only Central Texas online restaurant guide with over 23,000 searchable menu items. In only one year, FoodHawk.com has become the go-to online destination for Austin area diners to "Find Food Fast." FoodHawk.com was launched on November 7, 2005 in great measure to help Dr. Judy Hamlin, CEO and Founder, answer her own family's question: What do we want for dinner tonight and where can we find it? The librarian in Dr. Hamlin precipitated the need for a comprehensive, complete reference tool that would allow Central Texas consumers to make those ever important dining decisions. "The more I thought about it, the more I was led to producing unique features such as on-screen menus, printable menus, and food search pages that would seamlessly provide diners with specific menu items they requested," said Dr.... | |
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| | | Moody's downgrades UnitedHealth debt ratings | | Posted Thursday, October 19, 2006 3:08:39 AM by Blog57 Team | | In the wake of the announced retirement of UnitedHealth Group Chairman and CEO William McGuire amid a scandal over the backdating of options, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Minnetonka-based health insurer's long- and short-term debt ratings. The company's outlook remains "negative." Moody's also downgraded the insurance financial strength of the company's main operating unit, United HealthCare Insurance. Moody's also said it likely would downgrade the ratings further if more than $2 billion in additional costs for regulatory, tax or litigation activities are recorded, or if fraud or criminal wrongdoing are found. Fitch Ratings said that it is keeping UnitedHealth Group on "rating watch negative." Separately, it was reported that McGuire faces a paper loss estimated at $158.6 million as the company recalculates his stock options to the highest point in the year they were granted to remove any benefit of backdating.... | |
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| | | McDonald's Third-Quarter Profit Rises on Europe Sales (Update7) | | Posted Saturday, October 14, 2006 3:14:42 AM by Blog57 Team | | Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, said third-quarter profit increased more than analysts anticipated on rising European sales and a new $1.29 chicken-snack wrap in the U.S. Global sales at stores open at least 13 months gained 5.8 percent, Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's said today in a statement. Preliminary net income rose to 68 cents a share from 58 cents a year earlier. Analysts estimated 63 cents on average. McDonald's has exceeded profit forecasts the past four quarters as Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner introduced items such as the Asian chicken salad and increased promotions in Europe including coupon books in the U.K. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose in all major markets, gaining 7.6 percent in Europe and 4.1 percent in the U.S.... | |
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| | | Tiburon's Three Degrees has great potential but falls far short of the mark | | Posted Sunday, October 08, 2006 7:12:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | Tiburon is a beautiful, tight-knit burg where change comes slowly. In fact, for more than 16 years, no new full-service restaurant and bar has opened in this charming waterfront community, according to a release announcing the opening of Three Degrees in the newly renovated Lodge at Tiburon. If the release is to believed -- and I haven't found anything to dispute it -- that's monumental news. The last time a new restaurant opened, Daddy Bush was in office and sun-dried tomatoes were all the rage. About that same time, Three Degrees' chef, Patricia Windisch, was gaining prominence at Chateau Souverain, taking the place of Gary Danko, who went on to open his popular eponymous restaurant in San Francisco. After a few years Windisch went into catering and then worked at the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus.... | |
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| | | Bay Area fine-dining scene sees a few stars | | Posted Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:08:46 PM by Blog57 Team | | Just one Bay Area restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, picked up the highest possible rating of three stars from French inspectors when the esteemed Michelin Guide released its first restaurant and hotel guide for the region on Monday. South of San Francisco, Manresa in Los Gatos was the only restaurant to receive two stars, and Chez TJ in Mountain View was the only one to receive one star. Some of the Bay Area's most revered restaurants received just one star, including the 35-year-old Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the 23-year-old Masa's in San Francisco, and Fleur de Lys in San Francisco (where chef Hubert Keller has overseen the kitchen for 20 years). Popular dining spots such as the Slanted Door in San Francisco received no stars. And only two Italian restaurants made the top-tier -- Acquerello and Quince, both in San Francisco, with one star each.... | |
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| | | Radio notes | | Posted Friday, September 29, 2006 3:08:14 AM by Blog57 Team | | Ed Walsh is backEd Walsh, the former co-host of the WOR (710 AM) morning show, now hangs his headphones at WCBS (880 AM), working the 7 to 9 p.m. weekday shift. WCBS program director Crys Quimby says Walsh can be heard during morning and afternoon drive this week, filling in for others. He officially starts his evening shift next week. "For years, Ed was a news director (in Phoenix and Boston). He has a very strong hard-news background," Quimby says. "The mixture of the people on WCBS is what makes listeners enjoy the station. Ed has a commanding presence and authority, but he's also warm, which is exactly what we like." Chick chatFeminist icon Gloria Steinem has gotten into the radio business with GreenStone Media. The group, which also includes Jane Fonda and some other well-known women in the financial and entertainment worlds, wants to develop and distribute radio programming for women.... | |
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