The Buzz

Richard Yamarone, the chief economist of Argus Research in New York, gave the keynote address at the 2009 Bluegrass Business Summit on Thursday.
He was introduced by Insight Communications’ John Dobken, who mentioned that Yamarone had been treated to his first Kentucky Hot Brown shortly after he arrived in the state.
Yamarone apparently wasn’t impressed with the [...]

The Bernie Madoff scandal was a strong undercurrent that surfaced during the 2009 Bluegrass Business Summit on Thursday.
How can investors avoid being ripped off by the likes of Madoff?
A titan among Wall Street investment fund managers, Madoff has confessed to running a Ponzi scheme that may have clipped his clients for $50 billion over the [...]

Picture a rocket rising into the heavens.
Now you’ve got a mental image of what Pearse Lyons expects to happen to Alltech’s sales as a result of the agreement to make food flavorings in partnership with Mitsui and Asahi Breweries.
Lyons, founder and chief executive of Nicholasville-based Alltech, tells Feedinfo News Service that Alltech’s annual sales could [...]

They looked like respectable young professionals — well-dressed, well-groomed, educated, honest.
“Never in a million years would I have thought they were scammers,” says Anna Marletta, general manager of Bellini’s on Main Street in Lexington.
The two men came into the restaurant one evening recently, had a couple of beers and paid with American Express gift cards.
They [...]

Did you see a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day?
You know, short guy, bald head, biggish nose, broad smile and friendly eyes?
You did, you say — or was it maybe Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com?
Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, happens to look a little like a friendly leprechaun.
He arrived unannounced in [...]

During her years in the restaurant business, Lucie Slone Meyers has been around a lot of really hot stoves.
But now there’s a stove that didn’t even make it to her kitchen before it became hot — in other words, stolen.
Hunting for a bargain, Slone Meyers paid about $1,200 for a used, dual-convection, six-burner stove that [...]

If you need a little cash to smooth your way through the recession, the tax folks at H&R Block have an idea.
Block says 1 million taxpayers did not file tax returns in 2005 and that there are $1.3 billion in unpaid refunds from 2005 waiting to be collected.
The IRS only allows three years to claim [...]

The Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon & miniMarathon is among the footraces featured in a new paperback, Great Races, Incredible Places: 100+ Fantastic runs Around the World, to be published in April.
In the “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” section of the book, author Kimi Puntillo says “southern hospitality and horse-racing are hallmarks” of both the Kentucky [...]

If you drove through downtown last week, you probably noticed that the digital countdown clocks for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games weren’t working.
Don’t panic. The Games haven’t been canceled or moved to Dubai.
“A part” failed in the clock system and has to be replaced, says Krista Greathouse, Mayor Jim Newberry’s liaison to the Games.
The [...]

Two real estate pros, Bret Caller of Lexington and Steven Miller of Cincinnati, have formed Viking Partners LLC, a commercial real estate investment firm that is seeking investors to buy good properties that are bargain priced due to the current economic slump or owner desperation.
“Invoking the spirit of the Vikings, who were known for their [...]