Trending in Louisville today: #ObsoleteJobSkills. The first one that comes to mind is traditional newspaper reporting. 😦
Philanthropy
Kentucky regulators publish a laundry list of requirements to get a license to practice dentistry. At the top: Applicants must read, speak, and write English at least at the ninth-grade level. (The regulations don’t say anything about understanding patients’ garbled answers to questions asked during exams.) License applicants also must pass a nationwide criminal background check through the FBI or the Kentucky State Police. Would that have tripped up evil Dr. Christian Szell? More on that in a moment.
And they’re subject to discipline by the 10-member Board of Dentistry. It hasn’t dinged any this year, and only disciplined one in all of 2015. But in 2010, the board went after 72 dentists — far and away more than any other year. The board’s records don’t say why.
Nationwide, dentistry is one of the more segregated occupations. African-Americans hold 11.7% of all occupations nationwide, but are just 2.9% of dentists, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, for last year. They are just 3.6% of all dental hygienists, and 9.6% of dental assistants. (At the other extreme, they’re overrepresented among barbers, holding 40.7% of all.) Boulevard is trying to find comparable figures for Kentucky and for Louisville.
Scared of dentists? You’re not alone; up to 10% of U.S. adults are so afraid, they avoid dental care at all costs. Laurence Olivier only advanced those fears with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Dr. Szell, a dentist and fugitive Nazi war criminal who tortures his patient in 1976’s “Marathon Man.” That’s him in the photo, top. Szell ranks as villain No. 34 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains” list.
Related: Google lists dozens of dentists in the Louisville area. And, the Kentucky Dental Association has a searchable database.
A news summary focused on big employers; updated 7:43 p.m.
NTT DATA said it will add 300 jobs at its Louisville center to bolster its financial services offerings. The expansion comes only three years after NTT opened its North America Service Delivery Center in the city. The company is based in Plano, Texas (press release).
FORD said all 14 directors were re-elected to the board last week during the annual shareholders meeting. But the best-paid of them, Edsel Ford II, faced the most opposition (SEC). Ford, 67, has been on the board since 1988, and is a great-grandson of the company’s founder. Last year, the automaker paid him $915,609 in fees — far more than any other director. That included $650,000 under a 1999 consulting agreement he has with the company (proxy report). Also, Executive Vice President James Farley sold 78,042 shares yesterday at $13.31 each for a total $1.1 million (SEC). Ford’s stock closed at $13.14, down 1.4%.
HUMANA issued a progress report on its goal to improve health outcomes 20% in communities where it does business by 2020 (press release); full report.
PIZZA HUT is giving beer-infused crusts a trial run in London (Mirror).
KFC has just opened the world’s first human-free fast food restaurant in Shanghai (Yahoo Tech). And a British newspaper wins today’s prize for worst pun use in a story: “Hundreds of fried-chicken lovers were counting their clucky stars this morning at the opening of KFC’s new Nottinghamshire eatery (Nottingham Post).”
AMAZON continued expanding its restaurant food delivery service, first announced in November for 20 big cities, to Manhattan and Dallas (press releases here and here).
In other news, Gannett has substantially raised its hostile bid for The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Publishing Co. newspapers by 22%, to $15 a share from $12; Tribune’s board has so far rebuffed the Courier-Journal’s parent company (regulatory filing).
The popular Highlands Asian restaurant Joy Luck is opening a second location, in the East End (Insider Louisville). The Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari park’s 11th annual charity walk raised more than than $350,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Courier-Journal).
Louisville entrepreneur Stephen Reily is among seven candidates vying for one of the most sought-after seats on the 26-member Metro Council — the Highland’s District 8 — as voters head for the polls today (Insider Louisville).
In 1926, exactly 90 years ago today, Kaufman-Straus Co. was advertising bridal gifts at its Fourth Street department store in The Courier-Journal. There were Venetian Glass Compotes ($4 to $15) and Titian Ware Tea Sets ($27.50). Plus, hats with exotic names: Milans, Bangkoks and Viscas, all starting at $10 — a sum equivalent to $135 in today’s dollars.
Kaufman-Straus’ Louisville story began in 1879 and ended, sadly, in 1971. But the flagship building is still at 427-437 South Fourth, now housing offices. The University of Louisville archives includes some wonderful period photos of the department store in its collection of two million photos, manuscripts and other documents.
In his most recent financial disclosure report, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) said he’d bought stock in 23 companies, including four expected to grow faster than sleepy “widow and orphan” stocks. But they can also be more risky; high flyers can go way down, too.
The report doesn’t disclose exactly what Yarmuth paid per share, nor how much he invested, only valuing the stakes in the range of $1,000 to $15,000 each. Still, we can get a glimpse at their performance by comparing their closing price on the date of the report to Friday’s closing price.
His results were mixed: The best performer was Facebook, and the worst was Irish drugmaker Allergan. We’ve thrown in the S&P 500 index for comparison.
Related: Search for more congressional financial disclosure reports. And follow Boulevard’s stock portfolio of big Louisville employers.
A news summary focused on big employers; updated 4:26 p.m.
AMAZON has successfully blocked unions from organizing its 90,000 workers at giant warehouses, including in Shepherdsville and Jeffersonville, where it has a combined 6,000 employees; here’s how (New York Times). Also, the company is reportedly rolling out new lines of private-label house brands that will only be available to members of its $99-a-year Prime program; they could hit retailer’s site by the end of this month or early in June (Wall Street Journal).
KINDRED‘s business mix has changed significantly since last year’s $1.8 billion purchase of Gentiva Health Services. Now the Kindred At Home division, it was 32% of overall revenue during the 12 months ended in March, the company told analysts at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch health care conference (Business First); .pdf of Kindred’s presentation. Kindred’s shares closed today at $12.14, little changed.
GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt has listed his 10,458 square-foot home for sale in exclusive New Canaan, Conn., for $5.5 million (Boulevard thinks that’s a steal!) (Realtor). Meanwhile, Immelt’s reportedly bought a triplex near the top-drawer Boston Public Garden that was listed for $8 million; GE’s moving its headquarters to Boston (Boston Business First).
KFC: In Ohio, a man who ordered a sandwich without pickles Saturday reportedly returned to the restaurant angry about having pickles on his order anyway, and ended up throwing a phone into a wall (Mansfield News Journal). Also, the chain has leased 300 environmentally friendly electric scooters (The Star).
PAPA JOHN’S: Still in Ohio, a 44-year-old man was issued a summons for disorderly conduct after he yelled and cursed at employees during an argument about the number of toppings on his pizza (Mansfield News Journal, too). As if living in glamorous Miami Beach wasn’t enough, a landlord is advertising an apartment with an extra amenity: a Papa John’s is right next door (Craigslist).
FORD: With the month of June about two weeks away, it looks like the end of the road has come for the 2016 Ford Bronco rumors (Master Herald).
TEXAS ROADHOUSE is planning a new restaurant in Plymouth, Mass (Plymouth).
In other news, U.S. stocks were soaring at mid-afternoon, with the S&P 500 index up 1% at 2,069, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.2% higher at 17,737 (Google Finance). Nearly all stocks in Boulevard’s portfolio of big local employers were higher as well.
Finally, Louisville native and Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence may star opposite Sandra Bullock in an all-female remake of the “Ocean’s 11” franchise; the last sequel was “Ocean’s 13.” (Tracking Board).
Boulevard 