Business Beat

The housing debacle has produced ghost towns around the country, according to Bloomberg News.

Some 200,000 newly constructed single-family homes in the United States are sitting empty, the most since the Commerce Department began keeping such data in 1973.

Meanwhile, a Deutsche Bank analyst predicts that housing prices could fall as much as 26 percent from the third quarter of 2007 before hitting bottom.

Housing prices on Long Island and in Queens have slid to their lowest levels in nearly three years, according to Multiple Listing Service of Long Island data released earlier this month. The median closing price for the three counties now stands at $417,5000, down 4.6 percent from a year ago.

For more on the Bloomberg story, click here.

Clear Skies Group saw a niche for a solar-monitoring system, invented it and now has a patent.

The Massapequa Park solar-energy systems company on Tuesday received a patent for its X-Trax, which monitors solar-electrical output. The company applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in July, 2004.

The company says that most monitoring systems on the market have just commercial use. But it says its product is for both commercial and residential markets.

“Most systems on the market today are developed for large-scale commercial customers,” said Ezra Green, chairman and chief executive of the subsidiary Clear Skies Solar. “X-Trax fills the production-monitoring void completely, as it can track solar electrical production for customers in both the residential and commercial sectors...”

The mystery continues over what company will get the Air Force's huge contract for an air tanker, leaving Northrop Grumman one of two companies still in the running. It is widely believed that the decision was made Monday in a meeting, but nothing has been announced. Speculation now is that it will be announced Friday after the markets close.

Reuters, which has been covering the story aggressively, reported Thursday that the Air Force’s top uniformed officer said he himself did not yet know whether Boeing or Northrop Grumman would be awarded the potential $40 billion deal to start building a new U.S. aerial refueling
fleet.

Gen. Michael Moseley’s remarks extended the suspense about the winner-take-all contract announcement for 179 aircraft. “As you know by policy and law, I’m not in the acquisition business, and I have no idea which airplane I’m going to get,” Moseley, the chief of staff, told Reuters and other reporters at a breakfast.

Northrop Grumman Corp has offered a tanker based on the Airbus A330, built by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. of France (EADS), its partner in the competition. Boeing Co has proposed a modified 767 airliner. Northrop Grumman has said it would do the vast majority of the work on the new planes in Alabama, but there's a belief that some engineering work could be done by the company's division on Long Island.

--Noel Rubinton

Ed Pruitt wants to makes manufacturing “cool” again.

But one of the biggest obstacles, according to the Long Island executive, is the misconception that the local manufacturing sector is dead. So he took on that notion Wednesday.

“We’re here, we’ve got good jobs and a great career,” said Pruitt, who this morning presided over the first meeting of a joint initiative to revitalize manufacturing on Long Island.

The Hauppauge Industrial Association and local members of the state group the Aerospace and Defense Diversification Alliance in Peacetime Transition officially launched the initiative in the meeting on Suffolk Community College’s Brentwood campus.

The group hopes to revitalize the sector through dispelling misconceptions about manufacturing on Long Island, helping local companies obtain funds to operate more efficiently and obtaining more skilled workers.

The job losses that plague the sector obscure some more positive developments such as productivity gains and growing high-tech manufacturing, said Gary Huth, the New York State Labor Department’s principal economist for Long Island. And he said even the job losses reflect in part reflect strides in productivity, which means the need for fewer workers.

The sectors is “one of the biggest sources of productivity gains” in the U.S. and the world, Huth said.

Though down from its peak of 200,000 jobs on Long Island in 1986, when the defense industry was strong, to nearly 85,000 today, Huth pointed out that the sector pays some of highest wages on the Island, averaging about $53,000 a year.

“I’m not saying it’s not a problem,” Huth said. But he stressed that distorted perceptions need to be addressed “so that more people understand there are exciting things to do in manufacturing.”

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

When you’re in a room filled with information-technology experts and you’re not a techie, it’s easy to think you’ve stumbled into a foreign-language class.

That was the case Tuesday afternoon at the “Convergent Technologies” seminar at the Milleridge Inn in Jericho, where the arcane acronyms were flying: VoIP, SIP, and IVR, to name a few.

To the less tech savvy, that’s voiceover Internet protocol, a technology that allows phone calls to be made over the Internet; session initiation protocol and interactive voice response, both used for interactive communication.

While that’s Greek to the uninitiated, what’s clear is that those technologies and others will dramatically alter the way companies work in the not-too-distant future, a group of panelists told the gathering sponsored by the Long Island chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals.

One of the panelists, Daniel Hoffman, the chief executive of M5 Networks, a Manhattan company that specializes in Internet phone systems, predicts that in five to 10 years, the traditional phone system, with its switching and routing networks, will be dead.

“It’s a big economic weight that is anchoring you to a location,” he said in an interview. “People need to work where they need to work. That’s the way the world is moving.”

Offices of the future will have high tech-phones, he said, that can be plugged in anywhere, making it easier to move people around to work in teams.

“The whole idea of a fixed desk goes away,” he said.

But the office of the future will also feature more Big Brother aspects that have to considered.

“Managers are going to get a lot more information about what is going on,” he said. That info might include transcripts of a conversation an employee has with customers and that the manager might critique later on.

This has implications for both legal and privacy issues, he said.

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

Friday is that rare, once every four years thing: Leap Day. To read all about its origins and how it works, click here.

Among the fascinating facts on the calendar, according to time and date.com, are:

The most recent year in which February comprised five Fridays (like this year) was in 1980, and the next occurrence will be in 2036.

A calendar similar to the Julian calendar, with every fourth year earmarked as a leap year, was first introduced by King Ptolemy III of Egypt in 238 BC.

Using a calendar with 365 days every year would result in a loss of 0.2422 days, or almost six hours per year. After 100 years, this calendar would be more than 24 days ahead of the season

And, in case you are wondering: There are about 200,000 Americans with Feb. 29 as their birthday, the census bureau reports.

--Noel Rubinton

Everyone's talking about what's going to happen when Starbucks closes for three-and-a-half hours of transformational re-training between 5:30 and 9 p.m. today. Well, at least Starbucks coffee drinkers are talking about it. And Dunkin' Donuts, as many have heard, is offering cheap coffee--just a coincidence, that company says.

So what to do? For some ideas, according to--you guessed it--Starbucks, click here.

--Noel Rubinton

Well, there were no gangs of paparazzi or red-carpet interviews, but those with an interest in self-improvement books didn’t seem to mind Monday night as the winners of the Books for a Better Life Awards were announced in Manhattan.

Receiving top honors in the personal finance category was Money Can Buy Happiness -- How to Spend to Get the Life You Want,”“ by MP Dunleavey.

The awards program, now in its 12th year, has raised over $1.4 million for the New York City chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Other contenders in the personal finance category can be seen by clicking here.

--Patricia Kitchen

Starbucks has had all sorts of trouble with its training and quality control program lately. A chain that prided itself on focus and consistency had come partly off its mooring, customers and financial analysts alike agreed. And all this came while the company was going, in the words of a former top executive, "100 miles per hour" with worldwide growth.

The return recently of founder Howard Schultz was an admission that efforts to replace him and keep the culture had failed. Now Schultz is staking his legendary reputation on Starbucks getting its caffeine back How much of a difference will tonight's 5:30-8:30 program in stores around the county make? It will take some time to tell.

--Noel Rubinton

Shopaholics, rejoice! As I report in this week's commercial real estate column, Tanger Outlet Centers has revealed a slew of new tenants for its new mall in Deer Park, which is scheduled to open in September or October.

In addition to the already-announced Neiman Marcus Last Call store, a 16-screen cinema and a New York Sports Club, Tanger Outlet Center at The Arches has leased space to the following name-brand retailers:

Anne Klein

Banana Republic

BCBG

Christmas Tree Shops

Disney

Eddie Bauer

Reebok

--Daniel Wagner

A round of mergers is expected in the airline industry, but the plans of airline executives may hit a roadblock in the form of Kate Hanni, the super-energetic Napa, Calif., woman who formed a consumer rights organization after being stuck for hours on a grounded airplane at the Dallas airport a few years ago.

Hanni is being joined in her fight against airline mergers by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents thousands of employees at the major airlines.

“We are very against these mergers,” Hanni, executive director of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, said in an interview Monday. Hanni was, as usual, on her way to catch a flight, this time to Washington, D.C., where she hopes to lobby members of Congress on behalf of the organization she formed two years ago.

“History has proven that every time these mergers take place, there is a loss of employees, a loss of morale, fare increases, and much poorer customer service,” said Hanni, who expects to be in New York City next week to rally support for airline passengers rights.

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have been talking about a merger, according to industry analysts. United Air Lines and Continental Airlines are another possible merger coupling. Also, American Airlines may team up with Alaska Air Lines, analysts say. The mergers are all about saving money in the highly-competitive airline industry.

Joseph Tiberi, a spokesman for the IAM, which represents about 170,000 flight attendants, mechanics, customer service agents and others, said communities across the country could be hurt by mergers as airlines eliminate some routes.

“The loss of jobs also affects the communities,” Tiberi said.

Tiberi said he and Hanni plan to lobby on Capitol Hill this week.

“We have already met with some key senators and representatives to express our concern,” Tiberi said.

Airline executives, while not confirming any particular mergers, say the deals will provide better service and that fare increases are unlikely because of the growing number of discount carriers around these days.

--Jim Bernstein

http://www.

http://www.

http://

http://www.

Ok, people do get kudos for braving severe weather to get to work on a day like Friday – for Long Islanders the biggest snowstorm day of the year.

But, my, the distractions they face once they reach the office. Here are findings of a weather and attendance survey of 1,472 full-time employees who commute to work:

--76 percent talk about the weather with co-workers

--73 percent watch it snow, rain, whatever through a window

--17 percent work to line up alternative childcare and transportation if school is called off

The report, “Extreme Weather Wreaking Havoc on Employee Attendance,” sponsored by The Workforce Institute, can be found by clicking here.

--Patricia Kitchen

Expenditures on houses, vacations and college educations may be a far cry from purchasing a multi-million dollar computer system for a company. But they still call for planning skills, as well as budgeting and investing techniques.

Those are subjects to be addressed the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 27, in Melville at a free seminar, “Parenting for the 21st Century - Financing a Family” co-sponsored by the National Association of Mothers’ Centers and the Mothers’ Center of Western Suffolk.

According to a media release: “This seminar is designed to bring your financial well being up a notch. We’ll discuss how to ensure you have money for all the new expenses that come along when you have a family, effective ways to save for the home you really want, tips many people don’t know that will help you save for college - and don’t forget family vacations!”

The program is open to the public, but you do need to make a reservation.

--Patricia Kitchen

The fur is flying over ebay's new ban on critical ratings of buyers. The company says some sellers have gotten out of hand with their criticism of buyers. But sellers on Long Island and elsewhere say the new policy, effective in May, will put the sellers at a disadvantage and make them vulnerable to buyers who are unscrupulous.

Some sellers locally and around the country are participating in a temporary boycott of eBay. For more talk on this, you can join a Long Island sellers group.

--Noel Rubinton

With Oscar-mania on the horizon, thoughts naturally turn to what film genre our workplace most resembles.

At least the minds at CareerBuilder.com turned that way, as they’ve come up with an online survey of 6,704 employees asking what movie type best describes their workplace – drama, comedy, science fiction?

Interestingly enough and boding well for workers, horror or science fiction did not top the list. No, at the top the winners were: drama (31.5%), comedy (27.8%) and adventure (11.4%).

Darker genres came in much lower, with 3.9 percent saying their workplace was like a science fiction movie; 3.8 percent, a horror movie; and 1.9 percent, a war movie.

So, what do you think about your workplace? Try this poll:

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzmovie0221-poll,0,3724101.poll

--Patricia Kitchen

The Conference Board has decided to go out on limb and declare that the housing slump is nearly and over and that the U.S. economy isn’t tettering on a recession.

Some economists have said that the econony is in or nearly in a recession and that the housing slump hasn’t hit bottom yet. But the Manhattan-based business-research group. said that though the U.S. economy has weakened, business activity and corporate profits continue to grow, exports are booming and imports are down.

But the group also points out that while housing is coming back, the financial sector, a.k.a. Wall Street, is contracting. And it says that the overall economic outlook continues to be uncertain.

Still those factors aren’t enough “to tip the U.S. economy into recession,” the group says.

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

All of a sudden, the big subject of cell phone conversation is: do you want unlimited minutes for $99.99 a month.

So far, just a couple days into what's shaping up as a big marketing war, consumers already have three choices: Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

It's not clear that everybody wants, or needs, that many minutes even at that low a price. But in the near term, the buzz is high and it's seen as likely to reverberate further.

--Noel Rubinton

The U.S. Small Business Administration has a new Long Island branch manager. Alfred J. Titone, a Suffolk County resident, succeeds Norman Hunt, who retired.

Titone, 50, previously worked as regional director at the York College Small Business Development Center in Queens. He has also worked for Morgan Stanley and American Express on Long Island.

“Small business is the economic lifeblood on Long Island, and current economic conditions are making it tougher for them to succeed,” said Herb Austin, the SBA’s acting district director in Manhattan. “Al Titone is the right person to help those business owners know what the SBA is and what it can do to help them.”

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

As technology has developed at dizzying speed in recent decades, there's been a fair share of roadkill along the way. Now that Toshiba has thrown in the towel on HD DVD, you can add that to the pile of obsolete gear that once looked so cutting edge.

But it's in good company. Remember when the 8-track tape was seen as the cat's pajamas? How about when Beta seemed headed to be the king of videotape? Who out there still remembers playing by the hour on a Sega game system, only to see it go poif?

Technology is highly competitive, so it's logical that there will always be winners and losers. There's an ouch when the technology you bet on goes bust, but there's always what you got out of it while it was thriving.

--Noel Rubinton

http://www.wgeneration.com/70f4.html

With Fidel Castro's surprise resignation at the head of Cuba's government, all sorts of questions are suddenly swirling. Not the least of which is what will the business climate be post-Fidel.

One potential answer: think Bermuda. There's a case being made that Cuba could take on the commercial insurance business now located on that island. Only time will tell what post-Fidel Cuba wll be like, but many agree that there's tremendous economic potential.

--Noel Rubinton

http://www.

The aging U.S. population has increased the demand for home-health services. And advances in technology have made it possible for more ailing patients to convalesce at home, according an article in Investor’s Business Daily. Health-care companies like Gentiva Health Services Inc. in Melville have benefitted.

High-tech advances make it possible for stroke victims to recover at home rather than in a nursing home. And the graying of America means more cases of diabetes and high blood pressure, which also can be managed at home.

The result is soaring demand for home-health care services. Home-health care continues to be the fastest-growing component of all personal health-care spending, the Investor's Daily article says.

"We are seeing very strong demand for home-health services," said Gentiva's spokesman David Fluhrer in a Newsday interview today. "And that is expected to grow as the population ages."

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

Rules involving the conversion of IRAs are, well, involved. It takes a lot of research to stay on top of the rules, and to stay current. In 2010, for instance, the rule that prohibits you from converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA (for modified adjusted gross incomes over $100,000) will be eliminated. For a recent CNN Money.com update, go to:

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/104442/Ask-the-Expert-Demystifying-IRA-Conversion-Rules?mod=retirement-IRA

--Noel Rubinton

It's been a heavily-watched battle for several years now, watching whether HD or Blu-ray would emerge the winner in the DVD format fight. As with previous fights in the world of consumer technology, most analysts and companies have believed that there would only be room for one format in the end. And that end, it appears, is near in this competition, with Blu-ray winning.

--Noel Rubinton

Well, this is something that in the old days of newspapering might have prompted a reporter to yell out, “Stop the presses!”

According to a quarterly salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average starting salary for this year’s liberal arts graduates is expected to increase 9 percent over last year’s – the largest percentage increase for any academic discipline in the survey. Yes, people, that’s LIBERAL ARTS grads, who usually find themselves at the bottom of just about anything that smacks of salary.

The research – reflecting the views of 66 college and university career services offices around the country -- shows that they beat out computer science majors, who can expect a 7.9 percent jump, as well as chemical engineering grads, whose average offers are expected to rise by 6.2 percent.

Of course, it is worth mentioning that liberal arts types are starting out with the lowest actual dollar amount of the group – with this year’s average salary offer for them expected to be $33,258. So, we won’t shed too many tears for those computer science grads, who’ll be raking in $56,921 and the chemical engineers, who can expect $63,749.

You can find further related studies here.

-- PATRICIA KITCHEN

For those taxpayers with lingering questions about the tax rebate program that President George Bush signed into law on Wednesday, the IRS has issued a list of frequently asked questions.

The rebate checks will range from $300 to $1,200 and will start arriving in May.

Eligible taxpayers just need to file their 2007 taxes to get the rebate. But for those people who normally don’t file a tax return -- Social Security and certain veterans’ benefits recipients and low-come workers -- the IRS has also released a special version of Form 1040A for them.

For the frequently asked questions go to:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=179181,00.html

To see what the special Form 1040A looks like go to:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/newsroom/1040a.pdf

Manufacturing has been declining on Long Island for sometime. But at the same time high-tech manufacturing has emerged as a bright spot within that industry, according to local economists.

Now two business groups have joined forces to help boost the Island’s high-tech manufacturing sector.

The Hauppauge Industrial Association’s manufacturing committee is partnering with local members of the state group the Aerospace and Defense Diversification Alliance in Peacetime Transition. With a three-pronged initiative, the group hopes to spur growth in the manufacturing sector and ensure it has enough skilled workers.

Those initiatives include community education to communicate the importance of manufacturing on Long Island; economic development to improve the effectiveness of economic development programs, and workforce development, which will focus on the training and development of workers.

The group will hold its first event on Feb. 27. The speakers will include Gary Huth of the New York State Labor Department, who will talk about manufacturing trends on Long Island.

The meeting will take place at Suffolk Community College’s Corporate Training Center, the Sally Slacke Center at 1001 Crooked Hill Rd. in Brentwood. The program is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Admission is free. For more information call Sally Couluris at 631-423-6212 or email her at addaptnyinc@aol.com.

So now it turns out that some State Farm customers on Long Island are getting the same treatment as many insured by Allstate, MetLife, Nationwide and several other companies. All the companies are saying they are curtailing the number of homes they will cover on Long Island, in New York City and Westchester County because of the fear of intense storms and huge damage claims.

What do you do if you lose your homeowners insurance? Consumer Reports made several suggestions connected to the Allstate pullback, and the same ideas could apply to State Farm customers. Turns out "buyer beware" isn't enough--you need to keep watching what you bought, in this case insurance policies.

--Noel Rubinton

http://www.newsday.com

http://www.

Employers beware. If you tack a 20-percent service charge onto your customers’ bill, think twice about keeping it for yourself.

New York State’s highest court today reinstated a case brought by 14 waiters in New York City who claimed their company, World Yacht Inc., didn’t distribute the 20-percent charge. The company, which operates dining cruises in New York Harbor, added the charge in lieu of tips.
State labor law says that gratuities have to be distributed to the waitstaff.

The case will now be heard in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. That court had dismissed two of the three claims the waiters brought, according to the New York City Bar Association. And an appellate division had dismissed all three. Now the New York State Court of Appeals, the state’s highest, has ruled that the waiters have a “viable cause of action” and has sent the case back to Supreme Court in Manhattan for trial.

For more on the case go to No. 17 of the court briefs at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/appeals/summaries/CasesumJan08Wk2.pdf

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

During what is usually a rote recitation of sponsors and honored guests, Long Island Association president Matt Crosson surprised those at the business group's annual luncheon Thursday by announcing the featured guest for a special LIA luncheon in September: former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The announcement drew a momentary gasp from the crowd, which numbered approximately 1,200.

Crosson said it's the earliest the LIA has ever announced the speaker for the September event, but said he expects Blair's experience to be the "event of the year."

After the announcement and a break for lunch, the three high-profile political commentators speaking at the meeting -- Tim Russert, James Carville and Sean Hannity --took armchairs in front of the dais.

"Just to get you warmed up," Crosson said, he wanted to open by having the conservative Hannity make the best case for Hillary Clinton to be elected president; and James Carville, who masterminded President Bill Clinton's political campaigns, to argue for Sen. John McCain's election.

Carville went first, and took the question straight, calling McCain "solid," "consistent" and "courageous" -- though he did get in a few digs about McCain's early criticism of President George W. Bush's tax cuts, a position McCain has since reversed.

Hannity, meanwhile, could hardly keep a straight face.

"I want you to know this is the hardest thing I've ever done," he said. "I'm Hillary Clinton..."

Hannity trailed off, then said, "I know this is going to show up on Youtube." As if to show the strain making Sen. Clinton's case, he then launched into a series of backhanded attacks, including suggestions that "all you rich businessmen in the room" need to pay higher taxes" and that "even though I voted to send these kids to war," he said (as Clinton) that he wanted to take away funding for body armor and ammunition.

Russert looked on, bemused and red-faced.

--Daniel Wagner

The late David Pall was a quiet and shy scientist who preferred the anonymity of his laboratory to the limelight.

But Thursday, Pall’s name was in the limelight again.

Pall, founder of Pall Corp., the East Hills-based company that manufactures high-tech systems that filter impurities out of products in the medical, aerospace and industrial industries, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Pall, who died in 2004 at the age of 90, was selected for his invention of a system that prevents rejection of transfused blood and eliminates the transmission of blood borne disease via transfusion by removing white blood cells from donor supplies, according to an announcement by the Akron, Ohio-based National Hall of Fame. David Pall held U.S. Patent No. 4,925,572 for his leukocyte reduction filter.

The National Hall of Fame said the Pall device has “become the standard care for transfusion recipients by improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs.”

Pat Iannucci, a Pall spokeswoman, said David Pall preferred his lab to occupying any spotlight.
“We owe him everything,” she said.

David Pall's daughter, Ellen Pall, a writer who lives in Manhattan, said her father would be
honored by the award. "It's a wonderful institution," she said. "But he would have hoped that it wouldn't require taking a whole day from his work to get the award."

David Pall is the second Long Islander in two years to be inducted into the hall of fame. Paul Lauterbur, credited as a key developer of the MRI machine, was inducted into the hall in 2007. Lauterbur was a chemistry professor at the State University at Stony Brook. Lauterbur died later the same year. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2003 for his work on MRI technology.

Dr. Raymond Damadian, founder and chairman of Fonar Corp., the Melville-based manufacturer of MRI machines, in a series of full-page ads in the New York Times and other national newspapers, denounced the Nobel committee for not including him in the prize.

David Pall was one of 18 people inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame for 2008. The list included the late Robert Adler, credited with inventing the first practical wireless remote control for television, and the late John Charnley, who developed the hip-replacement procedure.
Long Island is chock-a-bloc with inventors.

There was Oliver Perry Robinson, who in 1866, working in his Bellport home, discovered the principle of ball bearings. Jerome Swartz, founder of Symbol Technologies in Holtsville, developed the first hand-held laser bar-code scanner in 1980.

Fred Waller of Huntington invented water skis in 1925.

The “rabbit ear” antenna was invented by Marvin Middlemark of Old Westbury.

Those bubble machines used at rock concerts were invented by Brian Glover of Port Jefferson. He also invented Drink Safe Technology drink coasters in 2002.

Pall started his company in a garage in Forest Hills in 1946. He was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario and grew up in a house in Saskatchewan with no heat or plumbing. He earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from McGill University in 1939. Pall worked as a research director for the Manhattan Project before founding his company.

--Jim Bernstein

The news on the economy has been overwhelmingly negative of late, perhaps heralding a recession. But now comes some positive news.

Retail sales posted an unexpected increase in January. The Commerce Department said the 0.3 percent increase was led by spending on autos, clothes and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported.

Perhaps January was bleak enough to send sad shoppers to the mall. A recent study said that when shoppers are sad they are more likely to indulge in a bit of consumerism.

For more on latest retail sales news go to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1RMqy2AUBQI&refer=home

For more on how moods affect shopping go to:

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzsad0209,0,3109779.story

--Carrie Mason-Draffen

The flu epidemic that has blanketed New York state has affected Long Island, including businesses. Many employers are reporting higher than usual absenteeism due to illness.

Here's one company's tale:

The illness that’s going around Long Island is “the gift that keeps on giving,” says Gladys Ahrens, vice president administration, Chernoff Diamond & Co., LLC, a Garden City-based benefits and risk management consulting firm.

Over the last three weeks, Ahrens says she’s seen an increase in absenteeism — along with he number of people coming in to work who are not feeling well but who aren’t quite sure what they have.

About 10 percent of the company’s 100 employees have been out sick on any given day recently, she says, which is high for the company even during a flu season. Plus, she said, employees are home sick for longer periods: Instead of being out for a day or two, they’re home for four or five days. She said one person tried to get a doctor’s appointment but was told to call the next day because the office was “overbooked with flu patients.”

“Lysol spraying has been rampant,” she says. Now, as people come who are under the weather report to work, she’s sending them home to “bundle up and have some chicken soup” — and hoping they don’t bring the bug back with them.

Next year, she says, the company is likely to take preemptive actions, such as holding an employee health fair and providing flu shots – the same services the company sets up for its clients.

So, how is Ahrens feeling? “I’m healthy,” she says. “I’m sure it will wait until I’m ready to take a vacation.”

--Patricia Kitchen

It has always been said that David Neeleman, the founder of Forest Hills-based discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp., was an entrepreneur first and a day-to-day operations guy second.

According to a leading Brazilian newspaper, Neeleman is going about proving the conventional wisdom about himself: he is in Brazil now, trying to start another airline, the newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, reported.

The newspaper said that Neeleman has already lined up $200 million in financing for the new venture, which is expected to be a small airline, with about 36 airplanes.
Neeleman could not be reached for comment. But one of the tantalizing details in the story was the statement that Neeleman has both U.S. and Brazilian citizenship and that would help him sidestep airline ownership limits applied to non-Brazalians.

Bryan Baldwin, a JetBlue spokesman, said Wednesday that anything Neeleman might be doing in Brazil was on his own and not connected to the Queens-based carrier. Baldwin said JetBlue would have no further comment on the matter. A woman answering the phone at Neeleman's JetBlue office said he is not commenting.

Neeleman founded JetBlue in 1999, and the airline became one of the largest discount carriers in the country, and the largest operator at Kennedy International Airport, its home base.

He was replaced last may as the airline’s chief executive officer by David Barger, then JetBlue’s president. Neeleman is now JetBlue’s non-executive chairman. The change in leadership followed a meltdown last Valentine’s Day,