Top of the List: Property/Casualty Insurance Agencies
Fri, 25 May 2012 01:23:47 +0000

This week in the print edition, the Business Courier ranks the Top 25 Largest Tri-State Property and Casualty Insurance Agencies. The agencies are ranked by 2011 property and casualty commission and fee revenue. Click on the image to the right for a slideshow of the Top 5 property and casualty insurance agencies on the list. We start the countdown with a tie for No. 4, Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA Inc. For the full list of the Tri-State’s Top 25 largest property and casualty insurance...

CIRM awards $69M in stem cell research grants targeting 'bubble boy' syndrome, other diseases
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:54:20 +0000

Bay Area stem cell researchers looking to cure a "bubble boy" syndrome, fix damaged heart muscle and take on a host of other diseases grabbed more than $25 million in funding from California's stem cell research funding agency. The San Francisco-based California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, said it awarded a total of $69.4 million to California stem cell scientists. Those projects include the first CIRM-funded collaboration in China and the first project with the Australian federal...

AAA: Hawaii gas prices hold steady
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:52:51 +0000

Gas prices in Hawaii may have dipped by a penny in several regions around the state, but the statewide average price of a gallon of regular unleaded held steady this week at $4.54, according to AAA Hawaii’s Weekend Gas Watch. Hawaii remained the state with the highest-priced gas in the nation this week, but Alaska was gaining on it with an average statewide price of $4.51 per gallon, followed by California at $4.31 per gallon. The average price in Honolulu declined by a penny to $4.38 since last...

Renovated 24 Hour Fitness club in Honolulu will reopen
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:49:55 +0000

24 Hour Fitness will reopen its Honolulu Super-Sport club this weekend after an extensive renovation. The club at 1680 Kapiolani Blvd. has been upgraded with a new racquetball court, an upgraded Group X room, a dedicated cycle room and remodeled locker rooms with complimentary towel service, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said in a statement. The club has more than 100 employees, 24 Hour Fitness said. "As we surpass our 15th year in Hawaii, it’s fitting that we celebrate with the re-grand...

Saltchuk’s Hawaii companies create UH business scholarships
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:40:16 +0000

The University of Hawaii Manoa’s Shidler College of Business has received a $120,000 gift from Saltchuk Resources’ Hawaii-based companies to fund scholarships for students on the Neighbor Islands in the school’s distance learning MBA program. The money will establish the Young Brothers, Hawaiian Tug & Barge, Maui Petroleum, Hawaii Petroleum, Minit Stop, Aloha Air Cargo and Saltchuk Resources Scholarship Fund for the Distance Learning EMBA Program, the university said in a statement. Students...

Initial unemployment claims fall 10.1 percent in Hawaii
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:33:52 +0000

Initial unemployment claims filed in Hawaii last week fell by 10.1 percent year over year, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. There were a total of 1,812 initial jobless claims filed statewide during the week ending May 19, compared to 2,015 claims filed during the same week last year, state officials said. Oahu had 1,026 initial jobless claims last week, 12.3 percent fewer than the 1,170 claims filed a year ago. On Kauai, the number of initial jobless...

Dish Network sues major networks
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:23:14 +0000

Dish Network filed a complaint in federal court Thursday against the four major TV networks, seeking a declaration that its TV set-top box’s new commercial-skipping feature doesn’t violate the broadcasters’ rights. The move came the same day that the Fox and NBC broadcast TV giants filed lawsuits of their own, claiming the technology amounts to copyright infringement. Douglas County-based Dish (Nasdaq: DISH) riled network executives by introducing its commercial-skipping Auto Hop feature...

Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman buys more Alexander & Baldwin stock
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:16:01 +0000

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman added more Alexander & Baldwin Inc. stock to his hedge fund Pershing Square’s portfolio during the first quarter. According to a posting on the Nasdaq Stock Market’s website, Ackman added 82,927 shares of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE: ALEX) at an average price of $46 during the quarter. Ackman and Marcato Capital Management’s Richard Maguire purchased a 9.9 percent stake in A&B in the first quarter of 2011. As of March 31, Ackman held 3.64 million...

Removing Hilton as hotel manager could cost Paulson millions
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:13:41 +0000

Hilton Worldwide said Thursday that a group led by Paulson & Co. would have to pay damages that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars if it tries to remove Hilton as manager of the Grand Wailea on Maui and two other luxury resorts. Bloomberg reported that the Paulson-led group plans to remove Hilton as manager of the Grand Wailea, the Arizona Biltmore and the La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA West, citing documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

Settlement may help Denver's Olympic bid
Thu, 24 May 2012 23:57:28 +0000

The U.S. and international Olympic committees have set aside a long-standing dispute between the two organizations over television broadcast revenues that’s been a factor in possibly blocking future Olympic bids by American cities. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced Thursday that they had signed an agreement that will govern the financial relationship between the two organizations for 20 years beginning in 2020. The new revenue-sharing...