| Brokerage firm acquires Kingston group
Pyramid Brokerage Company recently announced its acquisition of Kingston-based Upstate Commercial Group.
Pyramid Brokerage is a regional commercial real estate services firm specializing in industrial, retail and office sales and leasing. Offices are in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Corning, Elmira, Ithaca, Kingston, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Watertown.
Upstate Commercial Group was founded in 1996 as a New York and Connecticut licensed commercial real estate company providing brokerage services, consulting and investment analysis.
Upon the merger of the two firms, Steven Perfit, president of Upstate Commercial Group, will become managing director of Pyramid Brokerages Hudson Valley operations. .
Bill adds jail time to driving without license penalty
People who are in this country illegally will recognize the increased penalties and look for a more hospitable place to live," bill supporter D.A. King testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society, a group opposed to illegal immigration. .
Scientology writes; Gawker rises
"If Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10," Nick Denton wrote on his media and gossip Web site Gawker.com on Jan. 15, when he posted an internal Church of Scientology video in which Cruise rhapsodizes about his religion. The page has been viewed over 2.3 million times, a record for Gawker. At Scientology's request, YouTube and other sites took down the copyrighted video, but Gawker refused, instead posting and mocking the reproachful letter sent by a Los Angeles lawyer representing the church. As for whether Gawker will be hauled into court, Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Scientologists, issued a statement that further action had not been "contemplated, let alone decided." Equating the lawyer's letter with a threat of a lawsuit amounts to "unsubstantiated rumors" by "those wishing to create further controversy and media attention," she wrote.
Tully's Coffee weighing options on IPO filing
Tom O'Keefe, founder and chairman of Tully's Coffee, said the company is weighing whether to update its securities filing for a public offering. The filing was made in April, but Tully's indefinitely postponed the offering in August because of stock-market turmoil. It might cost less to allow the filing to expire and refile again later, O'Keefe said, after speaking Tuesday at a conference at the Washington Athletic Club presented by Staples and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Washington Mutual Optimistic update gives shares a lift Washington Mutual said Tuesday that higher-than-expected net interest income in 2008, along with its exit from subprime loans and a renewed focus on bank-branch customers, will help carry the thrift through what promises to be a difficult year.
Guilty child porn plea for LI real estate broker
A Southampton real estate broker pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to receiving child pornography.
Matthias von Wrede, 34, was charged last year with uploading hundreds of explicit photographs of children -- some young enough to be in diapers -- engaging in sex acts to a Yahoo online social group, federal officials said.
Von Wrede, who came here from Germany to broker multimillion-dollar homes for wealthy Europeans through the international real estate company of Engel & Völkers, could face 5 to 20 years in prison.
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Bearettes second in Hunstville
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. The Bradley Central girls basketball Bearettes battled for four quarters with Alabamas best on Saturday, falling to top-ranked Bob Jones 44-34 in the championship of the Huntsville Times Classic at Bob Jones High School. bear The Bearettes had to battle the Lady Patriots, a pro-Bob Jones crowd and some questionable officiating in the first half. Even so, the team led 11-9 after a quarter. Bob Jones, led by twins Kellie and Kylie Cook, took a 14-11 lead early, but Lacey Bolles tied the game with a 3 and the teams would draw even twice before the Lady Patriots' 6-0 run to end the quarter. The Lady Patriots led 24-18 at the half, with 10 free throw attempts compared to the Bearettes' four. Point guard Kally Eldridge picked up her second foul at the 4:30 mark of the second quarter and her third nine seconds later forcing Bradley coach Bryan Glasner to dig into his bench sooner than he would have liked.
Photos by BOB SELF/The Times-Union
Contaminated with E. coli, the California-grown spinach poisoned at least 205 people and led to three deaths in 26 states. Florida's huge tomato industry hasn't been rocked with a comparable outbreak. But this year, tomato growers joined the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in pushing for state oversight that would send state inspectors for the first time to farms and packing plants. The Legislature approved a bill giving inspection power to the department, now in the midst of writing regulations that would take effect next summer. About 12 percent of food-borne illness stem from eating produce, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Though fresh produce is a vitamin-rich part of a healthy diet, it often is eaten raw, so there is no heat or pressure-packing step that kills harmful bacteria and viruses when they contaminate produce.
Too close to call as Florida voting begins
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After days of hectic campaigning all over Florida, the Republican presidential contenders could do little but wait for the returns to come in as voters cast their ballots in Tuesday's primary. Up for grabs: 57 delegates, more than in any previous Republican contest so far this year. Mitt Romney is trying to scuttle the momentum that Sen. John McCain had been gaining in this state after his victory in the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary. .
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