Debt collection company closes Houston office, slashes jobs

Pentagroup Financial Services LLC, a debt collection company, will close its Houston location, eliminating 123 positions.

Pentagroup Financial Services LLC, a debt collections company, will close its Houston location, eliminating 123 positions.

The location, at 5959 Corporate Drive, will close on Sept. 27, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.

The affected employees are not represented by a union, but almost all of them have the opportunity to relocate to the company?s other U.S. locations, according to the letter.

The company was not immediately available for comment. Pentagroup Financial is a CBV Collections Services company.

According to a press release posted to insideARM.com, a website for the accounts receivable management industry, Canada-based CBV Collection Services Ltd. announced earlier this year its Phoenix-based subsidiary Primary Financial Services LLC would acquire Pentagroup Financial. Terms of the deal, which were to go into effect in March, were not disclosed.

In addition to Phoenix, Primary Financial Services also has a location in Amherst, N.Y., according to its website.

Olivia Pulsinelli is the web producer for the Houston Business Journal's award-winning website. Follow her on Twitter for more.

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_houston/~3/GqptvTnDKlY/debt-collection-company-closes-houston.html

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Growth of Global Solar and Wind Energy Continues to Outpace ...

Solar and wind continue to dominate investment in new renewable capacity. Global use of solar and wind energy grew significantly in 2012. Solar power consumption increased by?58 percent, to 93 terrawatt-hours (TWh), while wind power increased by 18.1 percent, to 521.3 TWh.

Global investment in solar energy in 2012 was?$140.4 billion, an 11 percent decline from 2011, and wind investment was down 10.1 percent, to $80.3 billion. Due to lower costs for both technologies, however, total installed capacities still grew sharply.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity grew?by 41 percent in 2012, reaching 100 gigawatts (GW). Installed PV capacity has grown by 900 percent since 2007. The countries with the most installed PV capacity today are Germany (32.4 GW), Italy (16.4 GW), the United States (7.2 GW), and China (7.0 GW). Concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) capacity reached 2.55 GW, with 970 megawatts (MW) alone added in 2012.

Europe remains dominant in solar, accounting for 76 percent of global solar power use in 2012. Germany alone accounted for 30 percent of the world?s solar power consumption, and Italy added the third most capacity of any country in 2012 (3.4 GW). Spain added the most CSP capacity (950 MW) in 2012 as well.?However, Italy reached the subsidy cap for its feed-in tariff (FIT) program in June 2013, while Spain recently made a retroactive change in its FIT policies, meaning that growth in solar energy will likely slow in these countries in the near future.

The Asia-Pacific region now accounts for 17 percent of global solar use, leaving it behind only Europe. Solar consumption grew by 69.5 percent in the region in 2012, and Japan (6.7 percent of the world total) and China (4.9 percent) are now among the?top five global solar energy consumers.

Due to slowing global economic growth, easing demand, and oversupply, there were significant net losses in the Chinese PV industry, which supplies more than half of the world market. The net losses have been exacerbated by growing trade wars between China and both the European Union (EU) and the United States after they accused Chinese companies of dumping solar panels on their markets. Overall, the United States added 3.3 GW of solar to reach a total installed capacity of 8.04 GW in 2012.

Total installed wind capacity edged up in?2012 by 45 GW to a total of 284 GW. In keeping with recent years, the majority of new installed capacity was concentrated in China and the United States, which reached total installed capacities of 75.3 GW and 60 GW, respectively.

The United States was the world?s top wind market in 2012, adding 13.1 GW. Increased domestic manufacturing of wind turbine parts, improved technological efficiency, and lower costs helped spur this increase, but the greatest catalyst was the threat of expiration of the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC)?which provides tax credits for kilowatt-hours produced by wind turbines?at the end of 2012.

The EU remained the dominant region for wind power, surpassing the 100 GW milestone and reaching a?total installed capacity of 106 GW in 2012?37.5 percent of the world?s market. Germany and Spain remained Europe?s largest wind markets, increasing their total installed capacity to 31.3 GW and 22.8 GW, respectively, and wind now accounts?for 11.4 percent of the EU?s total installed generation capacity.

Asia?s 15.5 GW of new installed wind capacity, the highest of any region in 2012, ensured that it remains on the heels of the EU with a total installed capacity of 97.6 GW. And while China?s?20.8 percent increase maintains the country?s regional dominance, India showed respectable gains by adding 2.3 GW to bring its total installed capacity to 18.4 GW.

Latin America also saw significant growth in installed wind capacity, with Brazil growing from 2.3 GW to 3.5 GW. Political instability continued to slow growth in Africa and the Middle East, but installed capacity grew by 9.3 percent to 1,135 MW in 2012. Sub-Saharan Africa looks poised to lead the way in 2013 as South Africa continues making progress on over 500 MW of new wind power capacity.

While policy uncertainties and changes will likely challenge the growth of solar and wind in the future, these technologies are well poised to grow. Declining solar technology prices, while challenging for current manufacturers, are helping solar to reach near grid-parity in many markets with renewed interests in the CSP sector as well. With the decreasing cost of constructing and maintaining wind farms, wind power is already cost competitive with conventional power energy sources in many markets.

Source: http://www.greenconduct.com/news/2013/07/30/growth-of-global-solar-and-wind-energy-continues-to-outpace-other-technologies/

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San Diego City Council to sue mayor

SAN DIEGO (AP) ? The San Diego City Council voted Tuesday to sue Mayor Bob Filner over any costs the city must pay from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his former communications director, dealing another setback to the leader of the nation's eighth-largest city amid mounting calls that he resign.

The Council voted unanimously to ask that a court require the mayor to pay the city for any damages and attorney fees if the city is found liable. The decision behind closed doors came hours before the Council was to consider a request by the mayor's attorney to have the city pay his legal expenses.

"This is part of due process," said City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. "If Bob Filner engaged in unlawful conduct and the city is held liable, he will have to reimburse us every penny the city pays and its attorney fees."

Irene McCormack Jackson sued the mayor and the city July 22, alleging the mayor asked her to work without panties, demanded kisses, told her he wanted to see her naked and dragged her in a headlock while whispering in her ear. Since then, six other women have offered detailed accounts of Filner's advances, including touching and forcible kisses.

Seven of nine City Council members have urged the city's first Democratic leader in 20 years to resign, ensuring stiff opposition to paying his legal expenses even before Filner's attorney asked that the city pay his bills.

Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said an official cannot accept more than $440 a year in donated services. Campaign money can be used only to defend against alleged violations of the state's campaign finance law.

An official can, however, create a legal defense fund under state law, Ravel said, leaving a possible avenue if the City Council rebuffs Filner.

Filner, who is 70 and divorced, said Friday he would enter two weeks of "intensive" therapy Aug. 5, defying calls from his own party leaders to resign. The former 10-term congressman is less than eight months into a four-year term as mayor.

Land-use surveyor Michael Pallamary published a newspaper notice Sunday to begin a recall bid, two days after gay rights activist and newspaper publisher Stampp Corbin did so. Pallamary accused Corbin of being a stealth supporter of the mayor and threatened to file a complaint with the San Diego County district attorney's office alleging election law violations.

Pallamary said Corbin would make little effort to collect the more than 100,000 signatures needed to get a recall measure on the ballot, setting it up to fail and preventing another recall drive for six months.

Corbin denied the accusation Tuesday, saying Pallamary or anyone else was welcome to join the recall drive. He said he wouldn't pay anyone to collect signatures ? a common practice in California ? but that anyone could visit his office to sign the petition or pick up blank forms to circulate.

Corbin, who was appointed chairman of a city commission under Filner, declined to say if he voted for Filner or how he would cast his ballot in a recall. He said his motive was to bring swift resolution to the controversy.

"What I'm saying is, let the people of San Diego decide," he said. "There's nothing going on in the city, in City Hall. Everyone is focused on this scandal. That is not good for this city."

Confusion over whether recall petitions can circulate concurrently isn't the only procedural flaw uncovered since the mayor came under pressure to resign. The city attorney's office says a rule that voters must cast a ballot on a recall to be eligible to pick a replacement should be repealed because a federal judge struck down a nearly identical law during the successful 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis.

Tony Krvaric, chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party, said Friday that he didn't expect big GOP donors or business leaders to make significant donations to a recall.

"The Democrats made this mess and they have to fix it," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/san-diego-city-council-sue-mayor-202111466.html

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Mega Publicis-Omnicom deal doesn't scare competitors

6 hours ago

Francois Mori / AP

Maurice Levy, left, Chief Executive of French advertising group Publicis, and John Wren, head of Omnicom Group pose during a joint news conference in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2013. Publicis and Omnicom have announced merger plans to create the world's biggest advertising group.

The multi-billion dollar merger between advertising giants Publicis and Omnicom will create the world's largest ad agency but their competitors brushed off concerns about a more powerful rival on Monday.

Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, currently the world's largest ad agency, told CNBC that he was not quaking in his boots yet.

"In terms of size, at the end of the day, if you look at the geographies, it doesn't really create great scale except in the U.S. and obviously the regulators are going to take a good hard look at that," Sorrell told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box."

The global advertising market began its week with news of the creation of the world's biggest firm in the sector, after France's Publicis and U.S.-based Omnicom announced at the weekend they were joining forces to form a group worth $35.1 billion, overtaking global leader WPP.

David Jones, chief executive of French advertising agency Havas, said he was "very surprised" by the merger, and questioned the rationale of the deal for clients and employees.

"It's clearly a very cleverly constructed deal and I think it makes huge sense for the two current CEOs and works for them, but I think you end up making two people happy and 130,000 [people] and many clients concerned and destabilized," he told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange."

Jones said Havas wouldn't block the deal for anti-trust reasons.

Both WPP's Sorrell and Havas's Jones said a bigger agency wasn't what clients wanted, rather marketers wanted agencies that were more nimble, entrepreneurial and less bureaucratic.

Shares of WPP were up 2.38 percent on Monday morning, while Havas's shares were up 6 percent. Trading in shares of Pubicis would resume at 2.30 p.m. London time, when the U.S. market opened.

Analysts also questioned whether Omnicom and Publicis could execute on the merger.

Potential issues include how the firm will cope with its bases split between the U.S. and Europe, whether the two cultures can be combined effectively and potential conflicts of interest in terms of representing competing clients.

The firms will now collectively represent competing brands, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, McDonald's and Taco Bell.

"Clients really have not been taken through the pros and cons of this in any great detail and it's going to be very interesting to see what happens," WPP's Sorrell said.

Mike Amour, CEO of Asia Pacific at advertising network Project Worldwide, said the merged firm could tackle this concern by being open and transparent with its clients.

"As long as the agencies are transparent and are upfront with their clients about potential conflict [the issue can be avoided]. This is not the first time this has happened in regards to clients from similar categories sitting under the same agency," he said.

(Read more: Publicis CEO: Digital, US rebound driving revenues)

Publicis's 71-year old CEO Maurice Levy and Omnicom's 60-year old CEO John Wren will run the merged group together for the first two-and-a-half years, after which Wren will take the reins.

"Time will tell if the cultures will click and whether clients and talent benefit - and how $500 million of synergies will be generated without job cuts. Co-CEOs is not an easy structure," Sorrell added.

"Having said all that I think it's a tremendous deal for Publicis. It's an extremely bold, brave and surprising move...but we'll have to see how this all plays out."

Changing with the times
The global advertising industry has been undergoing a rapid transformation in recent times with the rise of digital marketing. Major ad agencies have been snapping up digital marketing companies in emerging markets in recent years in a bid to compete.

The newly merged firm Publicis Omnicom Group could be better able to compete with global giant WPP, Project Worldwide's Amour said, especially in terms of pursuing business in India and China.

(Read more: 'Hand-to-hand combat' in advertising market: WPP CEO)

"It's a very bold move in regards to the very fast developing economies such as India and China. WPP has made strong inroads there over the past 20 years, Omnicom and Publicis have been slower in that regard, so this will accelerate their ambitions in these geographies," Amour said.

Publicis Omnicom Group is set to spend around $100 billion a year in marketing budgets for its clients, equivalent to 20 percent of the global media business, Reuters reported, which means the deal could be subject to scrutiny from antitrust regulators.

The deal is expected to be closed in the final quarter of this year, or the first quarter of 2014.

(Read more: This region is the world's fastest growing advertising market)

?By CNBC's Katie Holliday; Follow her on Twitter@hollidaykatie. CNBC's Holly Ellyatt contributed reporting to this story.

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2f4a45d3/sc/2/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cmega0Epublicis0Eomnicom0Edeal0Edoesnt0Escare0Ecompetitors0E6C10A772548/story01.htm

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Not a Tame Lion: Intimacy, Friendship, Romance, and Dating

Peggy Fletcher Stack?s Salt Lake Tribune article ?Why young LDS men are pushing back marriage? got my thinking. For now, I?d like to leave aside the exaggerated extent of hookup culture and the anxiety over dates as marriage auditions and focus on questions of intimacy. (I am also assuming a heterosexual setup for purpose of conversation; I would appreciate that, if that setup and wording throughout upsets you, you read into the following what gender pronouns and specifications you wish.) What follows is going to be a muddle of thoughts and obviously flawed sociology, but I?m just trying to get a few thoughts and questions out in the hope that I can spark discussion.

Despite my reservations about alarmism concerning new technology [1], I think the article does bring up an interesting issue: if one already knows so much about one?s potential romantic interest from digital communication and social media, what does one do on a date? For one, I wonder to myself whether apostles would have been alarmist about other mediated communication, such as letters, in the past (?Can you really presume to know the soldier who?s been serving in the Pacific for four years, young ladies, when all you?ve done is written each other in that time? I am worried for this envelope-addicted generation.?). On a more significant note, however, it raises a very important question about intimacy.

The question assumes that one must enter a potentially romantic relationship with significant holes in one?s knowledge about the other person; courtship must entail getting acquainted, even with things that seem to be the matters of small talk on a first date. If this ignorance of the courted person?s identity is compromised, however ?say, by ?meeting? him or her on social media ? the topics of conversation on the date will have been prematurely exhausted and courtship will be stunted forever. In this conception, group dates, hanging out, and social media threaten the foundation of marriage: premarital starvation with regard to emotional intimacy.?

As it stands, this idea of courtship and marriage argues that in intergender social relationships (pairings that could, potentially, become romantic), non-romantic ?(and non-sexual) emotional and personal intimacy threatens the potential for romantic intimacy later on.?

First, I think we might be witnessing a social shift wherein non-romantic intergender friendships, even outside of professional spheres, might be more and more socially acceptable. The very fact that men can complain, in various degrees of unjustifiability, of being ?friendzoned? is evidence of this shift; those that complain of such things are experiencing the tension between an older conception of intergender relationship wherein emotional intimacy was invariably a precursor to romance/sex and a newer conception that denies that invariability. In past years, friendships would be almost exclusively homosocial: men with men, women with women, and the only emotionally intimate cross-gender relationships were marital ones. Now, they can be otherwise. Friendship, however, carries with it by definition a degree of non-sexual, non-romantic emotional intimacy. In this newer notion of friendship, one can experience emotional intimacy with the opposite gender outside or before marriage. Is cross-gender friendship itself objectionable? (I hope not.)

Second, maybe we?re witnessing a shift in emotional intimacy overall: we can express ourselves more openly in public through social media. Does this openness, this public self-revelation, impair us in our in-person relationships that should be intimate? Do we have a finite measure of emotional intimacy to expend? Does baring one?s soul relatively impersonally frustrate baring it personally? While there might be some degree of truth to this, I think that cracking down on premarital emotional intimacy has a particularly gendered aspect. It is expected in American culture that men be emotionally closed, that they deny excesses of feeling or negative sentiments that might be deemed weak or womanly (anger is more okay than depression, for instance), that they put up a tough front to other men, while women are not socially penalized for enjoying emotional intimacy with their ?girlfriends.? (I recognize that this is a generalization mitigated in some contexts by LDS culture, which allows men a more open expression of emotion in matters of family and spirituality.) If we denounce premarital general emotional intimacy, men might suffer more than women, as they would lose a potential outlet.

Third, if we agree that cross-gender non-/pre-marital non-romantic emotional intimacy is possible and acceptable, then we will have to redefine romantic intimacy differently. No longer would a date necessarily mean small talk. What is romance, then, in an era of cross-gender friendship? What can we share with a romantic interest or partner that we do not with friends? In many non-LDS settings, this is easily settled: sex. However, in an LDS context, one can have asexual/celibate romance; in fact, one must have it, as sex is reserved for marriage, which comes only after romance. Is romance a matter of opening up parts of oneself to the romantic interest that are closed to others? In a monogamous society, it seems that personal openness is a hallmark of an exclusive romantic relationship. What, then, do we close to our friends that we open to our lovers and our fianc?s? Where is the line between cross-gender friendship and romance? What can a date become in this new world?

---

[1]?I?m one that?s skeptical of alarmism about technology in general. I?m not sure if the quality of one?s relationships decreases through use of new technologies, or whether relationships are just reconfigured and adapt. For example, while chatting and social media can open up the opportunity for the rather impersonal sharing of thought and information, they?can open up the opportunity for the rather impersonal sharing of thought and information,?which is really cool! People have the opportunity to explore and express in ways that would have been impossible before the internet. While this can cause problems (for example, Mormons finding troubling Church history), it can also be awesome (Mormons incorporating that history into narratives of human-divine interaction)!

Source: http://not-atamelion.blogspot.com/2013/07/intimacy-friendship-romance-and-dating.html

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