A father-and-daughter investment team from Chelsea, Massachusetts, have purchased the Phoenix Inn Hotel in North Creek for $1.94 million, marking the second ownership change for the Adirondacks resort in three years. Buhai Ren and his daughter, Zihan "Hannah" Ren, acquired the 31-room hotel from Diana Espalza. The transaction closed Feb. 1. Broker Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group represented the seller and secured the buyer. The acquisition was financed with a mortgage through Celtic Bank Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah. The 2.33-acre resort, located 3 miles north of Gore Mountain Ski Resort, features close to 7,500 square feet of meeting, restaurant and event space including a ballroom for up to 300 guests. "We had three or four serious inquiries in a relatively short amount of time," Muroff said. "A few offers came in after the property already was under contract." Muroff listed the Phoenix Inn for sale June 15 and the Ren family signed a letter of intent to buy the property three months later. Formerly known as the Copperfield Inn Resort, the boutique hotel underwent more than $1 million in renovations after Espalza bought the property in December 2019 from Michael Ellis and Copperfield Resorts LLC. Espalza […]

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Special to The Tennessean Consider creating podcast content Targeted podcast can bring marketing, company benefits “Welcome to the Half-Geek-Half-Human podcast where we discuss the intersections between technology, business, and life.” A few weeks ago, our tech consulting firm decided it was time to jump on the bandwagon and start up our own podcast. This is something we had been reticent to do in the past. With over 3 million podcasts already out there, we asked ourselves, “What’s the point?” It seemed like the last thing the world needed was another podcast taking up space. And with all that competition, why would anyone use their valuable time to listen to what we had to say? Our thinking changed though about a year into the pandemic. As many analysts predicted, the demand for podcasts dropped about 10% when the pandemic first hit. With everyone quarantined at home spending less time in their cars or at gyms, it made sense that the audience for podcasting would fade. But then something interesting happened. After the quick dip in podcast popularity, the trend reversed itself. Overall, worldwide pandemic podcast listenership ultimately increased by more than 40%. Apparently, we all love interesting content, and it’s […]

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Tyson Foods announces new team member benefits to support overall health, wellness SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Tyson Foods announced this week new changes and investments aimed at further intensifying U.S. team members relationships and enhancing workplace culture. According to a news release, specifically, they are making changes to U.S. based policies and practices related to healthcare and overall wellness. The company’s new policies and investments are in addition to recent compensation benefits. Tyson recently announced it invested more than $50 million in thank you bonuses and $100 million in wage increases for U.S. hourly workers over the past year. "Tyson Foods has invested more than $20 million this year to offer longer parental leave, additional mental health support and other wellness and health plan benefits to further enhance Team Member wellbeing as part of the company’s caring and inclusive culture," the release states. "The company increased its parental leave program to include eight weeks paid leave for mothers and two weeks paid leave for U.S. team members whose spouse or partner gave birth to provide bonding time with their new family member. We also continue to offer four weeks of paid parental leave for adoptive parents." This spring, Tyson team […]

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Extinguisher Guys owner Kevin Boushee shows a batch of extinguishers that he refurbished at his East Grand Forks business. EAST GRAND FORKS — Kevin Boushee fought fires for 25 years. Now he’s trying to prevent them. When the East Grand Forks firefighter retired nearly two years ago, he agreed with his wife that he was too young to retire. So he started Extinguisher Guys, a locally owned business that deals with anything involving fire extinguishers. Last summer Boushee went to Illinois to learn the business, train, become a certified technician and buy a custom trailer that allows him to work remotely at the site of businesses. He and his son, Bennett, are both certified technicians. The family business also includes a daughter and a nephew. “As the assistant chief for several years, I did most of the company inspections,” Boushee said. “One of the main things I found was extinguishers were outdated or not in service.” Boushee said business has been OK. Companies must have their extinguishers touched once a year by a certified technician. So he’s waiting on several spots in which the clock is expiring on the extinguishers. “It’s kind of a niche in town,” Boushee said. […]

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Photo by Julita / Pixabay The Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) has relaunched its Equity Match Grant Program, which provides women-owned businesses across the Connecticut with grants of between $2,500 and $10,000. This is the sixth round of grants since the first round was allocated in 2020. “We are so pleased to once again extend the opportunity for our state’s women-owned businesses to benefit from a WBDC Equity Match Grant,” said WBDC Founder and CEO Fran Pastore in a press statement announcing the new grants. “In addition to the wonderful stories we hear about how these grants are boosting small businesses, the data is also showing significant impacts on business outcomes.” Previous rounds of the grant funding have given over $1.5 million to more than 160 different businesses, including many that are minority owned or situated in economically distressed communities. The application process for the new grant funding round opened on Jan. 17 and will run through Feb. 28. Applicants are expected to lay out a plan for the funds which will improve their business, though the money cannot be used to cover operating costs, real estate improvement expenses, or to pay off previously acquired debt. Applicants must also […]

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The Minnesota Capitol rotunda. DULUTH — A pair of bills that would require all of Minnesota’s employers to provide up to 24 weeks of paid family and medical leave are moving quickly through the Legislature. While similar workplace mandates proposed in 2019 failed to pass, the bills are gaining momentum with the support of Democratic–Farmer–Labor majorities in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate. Among those in favor is Rep. Liz Olson, DFL-Duluth. Liz Olson “There are over 900,000 Minnesota workers — a full third of the workforce — who don’t have access to any paid time off. As a result, they often rush back to work after giving birth before they’ve had adequate time to stay home and bond with their newborn. Or perhaps they can’t spend precious time caring for a family member in the twilight of their life. It’s unconscionable so many workers face this predicament,” Olson said. The Paid Family and Medical Leave Act is essentially an unemployment insurance to be administered by the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Paid family and medical leave would be self-funded by a 0.7% payroll tax on employers with contributions said to cover benefits and administrative costs. The […]

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I spent my 43-year professional career working in or for architecture and engineering (AE) firms. I have been an owner in four of them, a board member in several more, and the firm we founded in 1988 that is today Zweig Group is the leading management consulting, research and training firm serving the industry. So, I have a good perspective on the industry. And while some may think AE firms are raking in the big bucks with the construction boom we still have underway here, they face many challenges. Here are some of them: Lack of public awareness and understanding of what these firms do. Most people think architects and engineers build things. For the most part, they don’t. They design them. And the design is critical to the success of any construction project. You can’t put a project out to bid unless you have detailed plans and specifications that allow you to know that every contractor is pricing out the same thing. You can’t get a building permit without a proper set of plans. You can’t design a site without a survey. Architects design buildings, both inside and out. Civil engineers and landscape architects develop the sites the […]

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CHICAGO (WLS) — Scammers work year-round but they are especially busy during the tax season. With Valentine’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday also on the horizon, online thieves are pulling out all the stops. The Better Business Bureau is alerting the public to the schemes that con-artists will use over the next several weeks. It will be taxing as people prepare to file with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And, as the tax season picks up, scammers will capitalize on the pressure taxpayers are under. This year’s filing deadline is Tuesday, April 18. "No matter how you get your taxes done, you could encounter a scam attempt," says Steve J. Bernas, BBB president and CEO. "As the 2023 tax season opens, tax scammers come out of the woodwork. These cons come up with creative methods to entice busy consumers to fall for their tricks. They utilize imposter phone calls, texts, emails, and even phony letters to capitalize on the fears and emotions when filing taxes." BBB tax time tips: The best way to avoid tax ID theft is to file your taxes as early as possible before a scammer has the chance to steal your information and file a […]

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In 2018, WBJ published a six-part investigation called The Boardroom Gap about the lack of gender diversity in Central Massachusetts business leadership, which showed the region lagged behind both state and national averages in having women in executive leadership and board seats. The findings were so shocking and well read, the next year WBJ launched its annual Women in Leadership edition, with an update to The Boardroom Gap as the centerpiece. WBJ Editor Brad Kane For five years, WBJ published its annual The Boardroom Gap report, meant to hold to account the business community’s commitment to diversity by researching the gender of more than 1,600 leaders at 75 of the region’s most prominent organizations. Last year’s report showed Central Massachusetts was making slow progress toward more inclusive leadership, with 37% of the positions filled by women, but still a far cry from equal representation. This year, I decided this Women in Leadership edition would be the first without The Boardroom Gap investigation attached to it. This was a very difficult decision to not pursue this report for at least one year, after it had become so meaningful to the Central Massachusetts business community, particularly efforts toward diversity and inclusion. […]

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CHARLESTON, WV — Gov. Jim Justice announced today that West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for January 2023 are $162.2 million above estimates and 8.5% ahead of prior year receipts. Year-to-date record collections are $995 million above estimate. "Without any question in the world, our continued revenue surpluses prove that we can very safely and conservatively move forward with a 50% tax cut in the state of West Virginia, especially if we do it wisely, and we do it over three years and phase it in,” Gov. Justice said. “So this is our opportunity to do something for hard-working West Virginians and put money back in their pockets.” The following is a brief summary of the major components: January General Revenue Fund Severance Tax collections totaled $90.3 million versus $81.9 million in January of last year. Monthly collections exceeded the official estimate by $64.3 million. Record year-to-date general revenue fund severance tax collections of $631.2 million were 87.8% ahead of last year and $497.8 million above estimate. The Severance Tax accounted for 50% of the total year-to-date revenue surplus. Overall collections were nearly double last year largely due to higher energy prices. January Personal Income Tax collections totaled $305.3 million. […]

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