Today's Number: 282,000

        Homes constructed in the Midwest in September, down 16.6 percent from August, the Commerce Department reported.

        Tim Duncan has joined Eco Engineering as sales support engineer. He'll work with Eco's sales staff and operations staff to generate, coordinate and implement projects. He was North American logistics manager for Procter & Gamble Chemicals. Mr. Duncan is a graduate of Southern Ohio College and the University of Cincinnati.

        According to convention, office politics is off-limits because it smacks of manipulation and hidden agendas. Yet politics is the universal currency of power and influence, say authors Mike Moriarty and Bruce Klassen in Power Play: The Beginning of the Endgame in Net Markets. “It is grist to the mill of creativity and innovation. The trick should be not to eliminate politics or to pretend it doesn't exist, but to use it to get the job done,” they say.

        Take advantage of the bear market by converting your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. The basic differenceis when you pay taxes — when you put the money in or when you take it out. You might be able to put $2,000 pretax in a traditional IRA, but you'll pay ordinary income tax when you take it out. Money goes into Roth IRAs after being taxed, but then the gains can be withdrawn tax-free. You can convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but you'll have to pay income tax on the rollover amount. But that tax bill could be much lower today than 18 months ago, because most portfolios are shrinking.

        Fleet Fleet: In 1985, Jim Bush decided Cincinnati needed a speedy, technologically advanced delivery service. With annual growth averaging 20 percent in recent years, City Dash has grown to a company that employs more than 150 people and makes more than 1,000 deliveries a day.

        Dash Diversification: City Dash now operates a trucking service as well as a courier service for hospitals and laboratories that transports specimens, medical records and equipment.

        Ticket To Ride: Companies needing short-term or permanent transportation service can engage a driver and vehicle through City Dash's “Designated Driver” service.

Duramed agrees to merger
205 workers out of jobs in Warsaw
Companies begin to rebuild
Keating leaves 5/3 in surprise move
Industry notes: Banking
LSI reports higher earnings on record revenues
Tank maker, union reach deal to end strike
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