| New push on health care in the works
The failure of his massive health-care plan to pass the Illinois General Assembly this year hasn't discouraged Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who will ask the legislature next year to create a state-regulated pool of affordable private health-insurance policies for individuals, families and small businesses. .
State Farm agent expands with move
PRINCETON — Growing her small town business and providing the best insurance and financial services around is a priority for State Farm agent Lorita Hellman.With a new location and an expanded team, she hopes to better meet her client’s goals and objectives."The main thing I want to do is to have people, without a doubt, understand how very, very much we want to help them with their insurance and financial services, and in the right way," Hellman said."We want them to feel like they enjoy being here so very much that they don’t want to have their insurance anywhere else. That’s the kind of service we want to provide; that’s the ultimate goal," she added.As of Oct. 1 the business relocated to 324 N. Main St., to a newly-renovated Victorian building, that is more than 100 years old.With the move, Hellman expanded her business team to include her son, Adam Hellman, who will serve as an agency contact representative, and will greet clients, process payments and keep client information up to date.Also on the team are Susan Bastion and Barbara Kunst, both multiple line representatives, who have a combined 25 years experience, in addition to Lorita who also has 21 years of agency experience.They are both fully licensed in all lines of insurance with Bastion specializing in bank and commercial insurance, while Kunst specializes in health and life insurance."They are both also experts in property and casualty insurance on their auto and fire insurance line," Hellman said.With the move, Hellman said she would like to increase her clientele at a more rapid pace, with an emphasis on auto growth."We paid dividends last year; we lowered our rate; we’re extremely competitive right now," Hellman said.Hellman said she had her eye on the building, which had sat vacant for several years, and was ready to take the next step."I’ve always found this place to be extremely charming.
Tough part of opening business is to sustain it
Brunei needs specific agencies to look after the quality standard of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). "We are good at establishing a business but to sustain it is very hard. However, we are not sure as to how many SMEs have failed to sustain their businesses. "Another challenge we face is that Brunei's expertise in managing SMEs is at its infancy, as we still employ overseas consultants," said Asut bin Kadai, Special Duties Officer Grade 1 of Entrepreneurial Development Centre, when asked on the challenges faced by SMEs. He is heading the Brunei delegation at the 21st Asean SMEWG Meeting or Small and Medium Enterprises Agencies Working group that concludes at The Rizqun International Hotel today. Brunei has learned a lot from this meeting through consultations and learning from the experiences of how other countries manage their SMEs and their success stories.
SharePoint: Asigra Broadens Enterprise Footprint By Supporting Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Asigra Inc., the technology leader in agentless backup and recovery software for enterprises and service providers targeting the growing managed storage services market, recently announced that its award-winning Televaulting technology supports Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Now, enterprises can protect SharePoint data across distributed sites while managed service providers (MSPs) can offer a backup service that covers the most comprehensive array of platforms and applications on the market. More and more companies of every size are turning to Microsoft SharePoint technologies for collaboration, workflow, and document management. Consequently they are creating critical business data on servers that need to be protected to the same high level as their Exchange servers.
SBA loans available to help businesses impacted by the drought
ATLANTA - Some help, in the form of low-interest loans, is on the way for businesses in Georgia adversely impacted by the drought. The Small Business Association l(SBA) loans are available because the SBA issued disaster declarations in several states affected by the drought. �We felt it was important to inform businesses such as landscapers, marinas, motels and others that are experiencing a loss of income due to the drought that they can apply for an economic injury disaster loan to help with their working capital needs,� said Frank Skaggs, Director of SBA Field Operations Center East. �Typically farm related businesses such as produce packagers, implement dealers and suppliers are aware of these disaster loans, but other types of small businesses may not realize they are eligible to apply.
Ex-Threshold execs land severance packages
Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. will pay its departed interim chief medical officer $325,000 and its former corporate development boss $185,500. Redwood City-based Threshold (NASDAQ: THLD - News), which is realigning operations to focus on its hypoxia-activated prodrug program as it cuts its workforce, previously said that Dr. Michael Brawer, M.D., the interim chief medical officer, and Kevin Kaster, formerly senior vice president of corporate development, were leaving. .
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