Business -- Kentucky.com
Business -- Kentucky.com

• COMMENTARY: NOT JUST BUSINESS AS USUAL: Winners and losers from a wacky year
  Why a winner: Al Gore, who hugs trees and does a slideshow on their behalf, cleaned up in 2007. He won an Oscar, a Nobel Peace Prize and -- perhaps most lucratively -- a partnership working on alternative energy companies at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
• Retailers buoyed by late holiday shopping spurt
  Just weeks ago, the holiday shopping season seemed headed for disaster. But in the waning hours before Christmas, the nation's retailers got their wish -- a last-minute surge of shopping that was expected to help them meet modest sales goals.
• Credit card debt sinking consumers
  Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments at an alarming rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the last year and prompting warnings of worse to come.
• Unbridled Christmas spirit
  In nautical miles, we are but a mere 3,118 away from the North Pole. Yeah, we're like neighbors, really. Which explains why there are so many ways that Kentucky has contributed so very much (bourbon balls!) to the national -- nay, international and interplanetary -- success that is Christmas.
• BUSINESS AWARDS
  Hugh Archer, who once served as an attorney and planner for the former Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, was presented the 2007 Biological Diversity Protection Award from the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.
• PERSONNEL FILE: Education
  Berea College: Steven D. Karcher has been named the college's new vice president for business and administration. Eastern Kentucky University: Kevin Norvell has been appointed the new director of the Small Business Development Center.
• KENTUCKY PATENTS
  The U.S. Patent Office issues patents weekly. These patents were issued Tuesday for inventors or assignees in the Lexington area: Deposition fabrication using inkjet technology. Inventors: Frank E. Anderson of Sadieville and Yimin Guan of Lexington. Patent No. 7,309,020 assigned to Lexmark International.
• Ad campaign for wireless inkjet printers proves successful
  Throughout the holiday shopping season, Lexmark International has touted its lineup of wireless inkjet printers in a nationwide television ad campaign.
• BANKRUPTCIES: Chapter 7
  Definitions -- Chapter 7: Court-appointed trustee sells assets, and debtor is discharged of debts. Chapter 11: Company or individual reorganizes under court supervision. Chapter 12: Farmer reorganizes debts under court supervision. Chapter 13: Debtor arranges to repay debt.
• KENTUCKY DATEBOOK: Workshops
  The Central Kentucky Computer Society offers workshops in many basic, intermediate and advanced computer subjects. They begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted and are held at 160 Moore Drive, Suite 107. Workshops are for members, but the public is invited. Information: (859) 373-1000 or at www.ckcs.org.
• Toyota workers opposing unionization go public
  A group favoring unionization at Toyota's Georgetown manufacturing plant has continued to make appeals to the public for support over the past few months.
• Stores edgy as shopping winds down
  The nation's shoppers -- taking advantage of deep discounts and expanded hours -- jammed stores over the last weekend before Christmas to try to grab a hard-to-find Wii or scoop up bargains on other items. But the spending surge may not be enough to offset what is shaping up to be a mediocre December for some retailers.
• BUSINESS TRANSITIONS
  The John Conti Coffee Company has acquired its seventh coffee-service company in 20 months. Innotech of Nashville has been operating the coffee division since 2001. The new accounts will be merged with the existing John Conti Coffee Company routes operating in the Nashville area.
• Footnotes
  Kentucky Money Market Certificates Annual percentage yield of deposit Phone Money Minimum Super Minimum Three Six One Two Banks number Market Balance NOW Balance months months year years
• THE BUZZ: In mecca of consumerism, a gift without purchase
  Shoppers at the Hamburg Wal-Mart got an unexpected holiday gift on Dec. 16 when a man and woman walked through the store giving away gift cards.
• KENTUCKY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY
  The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority board held its monthly meeting on Dec. 13. Below are selected actions affecting Central, Eastern and Northern Kentucky companies. In general, when a company is approved for tax incentives, it can keep that amount of money, which it would otherwise pay in taxes, assuming it fulfills the terms of the deal.
• BUSINESS NOTES: OBITUARIES
  Lexington's Blue Grass Airport announced on Friday the membership of its 2008 board. Leaders of the board will be Bernard Lovely Jr., chairman; James Boyd, vice chairman; Thomas Gandolfo, secretary; and J. Robert Owens, treasurer. Other members are Roszalyn Akins, John Davis, Robert Dawson, P.G. Peeples, David Stevens and Jeff Woods.
• Analog shutdown's hit list
  Carriers will start shutting down the country's oldest cellular network, for analog devices, in February. Here's how to know if you will be affected:
• more than a grocery store
  From a humble start decades ago when its founder sold groceries from a rural Kentucky shed, Houchens Industries Inc. has blossomed into a far-flung company with a fondness for dealmaking.
• Digital age to silence users of old system
  The network that launched the U.S. wireless industry 24 years ago will switch off in most of the country next year, leaving a surprising number of users in the lurch.