Business & Economy

By STEVE LACKMEYER
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Calvin Burgess' office is just a few steps away from his home, but his latest business venture involves a 17,000-acre farm 8,700 miles away in a remote, impoverished swamp in Kenya.

Burgess estimates his Guthrie, Okla.-based Dominion Group has spent $5 million a year since 2001 building dikes and hydroelectric dams, creating roads where none existed and establishing what he hopes will be a new start for thousands of the country's poorest residents.

Kennedy Nyagudi Were, a member of the Kenyan Parliament, is quick to praise Burgess, even though Dominion Farms still is three years away from being finished.

"The disease rate, the prevalence of AIDS and malaria, were just astronomical," said Were, who assisted Burgess at the start of the project.

By MARVIN WALBERG
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Dear Mr. Walberg:

My immediate supervisor put in his two-week notice last week. He's been offered a better management job elsewhere. This is my first job out of high school, so I'm not as experienced as others, but I am a little surprised that he is working us so hard during his short time here.

By JON ORTIZ
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The scene was worthy of a major motion picture debut, with screaming fans and a security escort in Times Square. The cause of all the ruckus: T.M.X. Elmo, this year's hottest toy.

Since the "Sesame Street" character's much-anticipated reincarnation late last month, toy retailers haven't been able to keep their shelves stocked with the animated furry red doll that bursts into fits of rolling, hysterical laughter.

Its success has tickled toy store owners and manufacturer Fisher-Price Inc., and symbolizes several encouraging trends for a stagnant toy industry that has watched helplessly in recent years as kids switched to video games, computers and home electronics for entertainment.

Toy makers are integrating advanced technology more effectively with traditional toys such as dolls and cars.

By MIKE BERMAN
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Plextor and Iomega are battling for space in your notebook case.

The Plextor PX-SPO8U ($169) and the Iomega USB/Firewire Portable Hard Drive ($149) can hold up to 80GB of data, weigh less than half a pound and are shockproof, but that's where the similarities end.

The Plextor is a bus-powered USB 2.0 drive that comes with a silicon bumper (for extra protection), but there's no backup software.

By BRUCE FREEMAN
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Dear Professor Bruce:

I own a small business. I know how important it is to have an attractive Web site so that customers visit and hopefully purchase.

By LEN BOSELOVIC
Sunday, October 29, 2006
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, sweeping financial reforms enacted by Congress in 2002 in the wake of high-profile accounting scandals, has been a popular target for critics who bemoan the impact of costly, time-consuming government regulations.

The law also is being blamed for increased turnover among chief financial officers _ the top accountants at public companies whose performance has come under increased scrutiny.

"We could tell in our work levels it was increasing post-Sarbanes-Oxley," says Lorraine Hack, executive director of Russell Reynolds Associates' financial-officers practice.

The executive search firm says turnover among CFOs at Fortune 500 companies has been on the rise, with almost one of every five Fortune 500 companies changing CFOs last year.

By TIMOTHY C. BARMAN
Sunday, October 29, 2006
It doesn't take a degree in economics to see that something seems askew with the price of heating oil.

While the cost of gasoline has tumbled by 30 percent since its peak this summer, home heating oil prices have dropped only slightly _ about 7 percent _ over the same period.

What gives?

Part of the blame goes to the Europeans and their strong demand for diesel fuel, which is essentially the same product as home heating oil, a petroleum industry spokesman said.

And it also has to do with timing _ demand for heating oil is ramping up while demand for gasoline is falling off.

In the unlikely event you forgot, gasoline was extraordinarily expensive over the summer, hovering near $3 a gallon.

By JANE ROBERTS
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
While retailers expect holiday spending will be up 5 percent, FedEx Corp. expects it will ship 9.8 million packages, 10 percent more, on Dec. 18, making it easily the busiest day in company history.

The numbers, analysts say, prove that FedEx is stealing market share from UPS, the post office, DHL and others.

On the larger front, it is also in line to pick up a windfall if now-nervous retailers start placing last-minute orders they will only be able to receive through expedited transportation companies.

"Retailers in particular and the market in general have been very careful about purchasing inventory this year," said Ted Scherck, president of Atlanta-based The Colography Group.

By CHRIS SERRES
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Mary Seidel remembers when Halloween was a one-day event with homemade costumes and pillowcases that served as "trick or treat" containers.

Not anymore.

For Seidel, Halloween has become a month-long event.

By KATHLEEN PENDER
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Occasionally, when I write columns about taxes, I'll get calls from irate people claiming I've made a huge mistake. Don't I know, they'll say, that some provision of the Constitution or Internal Revenue Code states that you don't have to pay federal income taxes? Most of these callers sound like crackpots, but a few of them, I must admit, sound convincing.