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Business/Economy

  • Wellness Center offers innovative techniques

    Kim Lazarus has begun to rise from the ashes. The Las Conchas fire of 2011 caused her future to look bleak.
    But two years later, with the help of the Los Alamos Small Business Center, she is getting back on track. “I have the perfect opportunity to get back on my feet again,” she said.
    Lazarus celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony to her new office on April 4. “It was a very exciting day,” she said.
    Lazarus has been a licensed chiropractor for 10 years in the Los Alamos area.
    In addition to being a chiropractor, her wellness center contains a state of the art use of high-tech machinery for the maintenance of health and wellness.
    The most innovative treatment Lazarus offers is the Zen Frames and Creative Visualization Relaxation Audio Sessions. It involves a unique recording process with two separate voice tracks spatially placed to synchronize both sides of the brain. “It is audiovisual re-patterning for the mind and body,” Lazarus said.
    It is used to deepen meditative states to help with relaxation, reduce stress, regain balance of mind and ease chronic pain. “It can retrain your brain to deal with addictions, such as smoking, drug and alcohol,” according to a brochure Lazarus’ gives to patients, outlining the specifics of the treatment.

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  • Rover 1 lands on D.P. Road

    Owner Patricia Lind opened Rover 1 Doggy Daycare in hopes of providing a convenient, safe and happy place for local dogs to stay and play.

    She recognized the need in Los Alamos, especially for commuting laboratory employees, to have doggy daycare facilties close to work. That and her lifelong love for dogs, led to the opening of Rover 1 just last October.

    Although the business is relatively new, the concept of caring for canines in need has always been a passion for Lind. She spent five years working with the New Mexico Shar Pei Rescue, and continues to donate her time to local shelters. In fact, Lind says that “shelter animals are the best,” offering shelter dogs, from any shelter, 50 percent off their first visit to Rover 1.

    The facility is spacious, clean and bright, encouraging exercise and play, as well as, comfort and quiet. It also features a small outdoor area where canine clients can soak up some sunshine or take care of business. There are plenty of toys, fresh water and comfortable beds also strategically situated throughout.

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  • US economy adds just 88K jobs, rate drops to 7.6 pct.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown may signal that the economy is losing what momentum it had.

    The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent, the lowest in four years, from 7.7 percent. But the rate fell only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

    The percentage of Americans working or looking for jobs fell to 63.3 percent in March, the lowest such figure in nearly 34 years.

    Stocks plummeted after the report. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 157 points in morning trading. Broader indexes also declined.

    March's job gains were less than half the average of the previous six months, when the economy added an average of 196,000 jobs a month. The government said hiring was even stronger in January and February than previously estimated. January's job growth was revised up from 119,000 to 148,000. February's was revised from 236,000 to 268,000.

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  • Governor vetoes increase in NM minimum wage

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has vetoed a proposal by the Democratic-controlled Legislature that would have increased New Mexico's minimum wage to the fourth highest in the nation.

    Martinez followed through on an earlier threat and rejected the measure on Friday that would have boosted the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour from $7.50. The governor said the proposed increase would have cost the state jobs.

    Martinez reiterated that she would have signed an increase in the hourly wage rate to $7.80, making it the same as Arizona's minimum wage.

    Martinez is up for re-election in 2014, and Democrats likely will try to use the minimum wage veto against her.

    Only Washington, Oregon and Vermont have minimum wages higher than $8.50 an hour. Washington is the highest at $9.19 an hour.

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  • Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.

    That's likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individual plans.

    The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act.

    While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.

    The disparities are striking. By 2017, the estimated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio, more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.

    The report did not make similar estimates for employer plans, the mainstay for workers and their families. That's because the primary impact of Obama's law is on people who don't have coverage through their jobs.

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  • Workers to petition governor for minimum wage hike

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A group called Working America says it will be in Santa Fe Monday to try and persuade Gov. Susana Martinez to sign a minimum wage increase.

    The group says it will deliver thousands of photo petitions and petition signatures to the governor's office in support of a just-passed Senate Bill to increase the state's minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour.

    Martinez has said she opposes the bill because it would make the state's minimum wage the fourth highest in the nation. She says she told lawmakers she would support raising the minimum wage to $7.80 an hour, the same as Arizona, but that the full dollar-an-hour increase was simply unsustainable.

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  • Randall gets set to take LACDC reins

    Scott Randall is no stranger to success, but some of his wins have been hard-fought and fraught with political pitfalls.

    Randall’s career is about to take a different tack when he steps in to replace Kevin Holsapple as the executive director of the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation April 1.

    “What we liked was his record of success in economic development in several communities, and the fact that those communities were often about the size of Los Alamos or had some of the similar issues that we’ve had from the standpoint of economic development,” said LACDC board member Bill Wadt, who led the search team.

    Randall himself gave the economic development aspect of the position as his top reason for wanting the job.

    “I was attracted to the whole mission and the whole function of the organization. Economic development has been a cornerstone of my career,” Randall said.”While I’ve been in city management and public administration for 38 years, economic development has been my passion.”

    Wadt highlighted some of Randall’s accomplishments that particularly attracted the board.

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  • Local artists find a home

    Art and culture are woven into the fabric of the Los Alamos community and up until a few years ago, the town did not have a fine art gallery to call its own.

    In 2008, local artist Karen Wray set out to fill that void by opening her gallery, Karen Wray’s Fine Art, in its original location off Trinity Drive. She filled the studio with her own artwork and began to offer painting classes to anyone who might be interested — encouraging even amateurs to delve into the expressive world of art.

    Wray has been painting since her retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1995. Just a few years after she discovered her new passion, she joined the Los Alamos Artists Studio Tour and was a part of the Holiday Art Show at Melissa Bartlett’s studio for nine years.

    She spent years displaying her works in local venues such as DeColores and Katherine’s Restaurant; but quickly recognized the need for a professional gallery where local artists could exhibit their works year-round.

    Wray recently moved her gallery to its new location, just across the street from the Bradbury Science Museum, to further her efforts to provide a place where local artists could thrive. Once only displaying her own pieces, she now features more than 18 local artists in her gallery, with plans to add more in the future.

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  • Fed Sees High Unemployment Into 2015
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  • Hotel preps for shut down -- VIDEO EXTRA

    There was no 11th-hour reprieve or last-minute deal.

    In the end, no bidders came forward.

    Los Alamos National Bank set a minimum bid at $2.9 million, to secure the Hilltop House Hotel during a foreclosure auction in front of the Justice Center Wednesday, just before noon.

    Approximately 20 people were in attendance as special master John Morse read the conditions of the sale.

    Morse announced the bank had submitted a $2.9 million bid. He then asked everybody in attendance if there were any other bids.

    There was silence.

    Morse then awarded possession of the hotel to the bank.

    LANB president Steve Wells said the bank never favors the foreclosure process “but unfortunately, this was the only option we had left.”

    Wells then explained the process of what happens next.

    “This process requires the judge presiding over the foreclosure to approve the auction transaction and that can take up to a week depending on the judge’s workload and of course any concerns, which we do not expect,” Wells said. “New Mexico law allows for a 30-day redemption period where the debtor can redeem the property with payment of the amount required.

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