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October 2006
Welcome to eFYI, your exclusive monthly e-newsletter from Greater Louisville Inc. - The Metro Chamber of Commerce. As one of our valued partners, you can count on eFYI to cover the topics and issues of most interest and benefit to you. Share your comments and ideas with us any time at VFisher@greaterlouisville.com.
Shepherdsville welcomes J&J pharmaceutical unit
Louisville growing better educated
Study shows increase in local health care degrees, certificates
BAE expanding Louisville facility
DuPont plant to receive upgrades
GE to invest millions on dishwasher, washing machine lines
Jefferson County high schools recognized by national initiative
U of L scientist gets $3.4 million for research
Cancer drug shows promise
Louisville debut of IdeaFestival innovation event
Iron Triangle to add Louisville jobs
CafePress keeps growing with clients' weird creations
Airport authority moves set stage for UPS expansion
Stones top Churchill's renter list
Spirits buoyed on waterfront
Shepherdsville welcomes J&J pharmaceutical unit
JOM Pharmaceutical Services, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, broke ground on a 325,000-square-foot distribution center in Shepherdsville.
The facility will store Johnson & Johnson products and distribute them around the world. The building also will house customer service and support staff.
The center is expected to open by January 2008 and will employ about 100 people. Read more.
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Louisville growing better educated
Louisville residents increasingly are better educated and have stronger ties to their native state than the rest of the country, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
They're people like Casey Hyland, a 34-year-old glass artist whose craft took him to five states before he moved back to Louisville five years ago to be closer to his extended family.
The report shows that roughly 85 percent of Louisville residents have a high school diploma.
And it says a larger share of the population has a college degree -- 27 percent last year, when the survey was taken, up from nearly 24 percent in 2000. Read more.
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Study shows increase in local health care degrees, certificates
It is no secret that the health care industry is one of the area's strongest economic engines, but a common obstacle that many health-related organizations face is a shortage of trained workers.
The issue prompts a series of questions regarding human capital: What health-related degrees are being earned? Is Louisville gaining or losing ground on this front? How do the number and type of health-related degrees earned locally stack up against those in peer cities? For the first time, comprehensive research is helping answer these questions as a result of a collaboration between Louisville's work-force investment agency, KentuckianaWorks, and the Health Enterprises Network, a local business network dedicated to economic development in the health care sector.
At the network's urging, KentuckianaWorks recently commissioned a study on this topic, enlisting the help of University of Louisville economist Paul Coomes.
His research team gathered data on postsecondary health-related awards, which include diplomas, certificates and degrees, that were earned in 2000 and in 2005 in 16 metro areas. Read more.
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BAE expanding Louisville facility
BAE Systems will add 90 workers to its plant at the Airport Industrial Center in Louisville as a result of a contract to produce a weapons system for the U.S. Navy's newest destroyer, the DDG 1000.
The expanded operation will work on the Advanced Gun System, which includes a 155mm gun, along with its magazine and subassemblies.
The jobs that are being added include engineering, management and production workers.
The company currently has more than 300 workers in Louisville. Read more.
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DuPont plant to receive upgrades
 The DuPont Co. plant in Louisville's Rubbertown area will receive $10 million in upgrades to boost production of vinyl fluoride, which is used to create film for solar panels.
The plant will add some buildings within the confines of the plant's property. Although no new jobs will be created, the investment will help with the long-term viability of the plant.
DuPont employs about 150 employees in Louisville. Read more.
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GE to invest millions on dishwasher, washing machine lines
GE Consumer & Industrial will make good on its promise to the union that represents workers at Appliance Park by adding jobs and investing millions to bring new production work to its Louisville operation.
GE will invest $7 million to make wire dishwasher racks at Appliance Park's Building 3. Production is expected to begin by the end of 2007.
The company also will spend $5 million to ramp up a production line at Appliance Park's Building 1 to make pedestals for front-load washing machines. That work will begin in early 2007. The company also plans to hire 200 new employees by the end of 2007. Read more.
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Jefferson County high schools recognized by national initiative
Four Jefferson County public high schools, Atherton High School, Eastern High School, Fern Creek Traditional High School and Jeffersontown High School Magnet Career Academy, are among the top 100 in the nation, according to the Southern Regional Education Board's "High Schools That Work" initiative, an effort to get schools to combine academic courses and vocational studies. The four schools were named based on the initiative's 10 key practices which included high expectations, program of study, academic studies, career/technical studies, work-based learning, teachers working together, students actively engaged, guidance, extra help and culture of continuous improvement. More than 1,300 high schools in 32 states, including 10 Jefferson County schools, participate in the initiative. Read more.
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U of L scientist gets $3.4 million for research
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a University of Louisville neurologist a $3.4 million grant to lead a nationwide study of a condition similar to Parkinson's disease.
Irene Litvan, director of U of L's Movement Disorders Program, will lead a team of scientists from eight institutions taking part in the study. It will look for causes and seek possible treatments for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) -- a nervous system disorder that can mimic Parkinson's disease. Read more.
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Cancer drug shows promise
A cancer drug discovered by scientists now at the University of Louisville and developed by former Louisville company Aptamera has shown promise in a human clinical trial.
The drug, called AS1411, caused major tumor shrinkage in two of 12 kidney cancer patients and also halted tumor growth in some other patients according to Dr. Donald Miller, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at U of L, where the trial was recently completed. Read more.
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Louisville debut of IdeaFestival innovation event
 For the first time, Louisville will host the IdeaFestival, a four-day event that is designed to connect thinkers and innovators from a wide cross-section of disciplines.
Topics covered in the sessions include the search for a cancer cure, the green revolution, research ethics, urban design, new media forms, venture investing and more.
The bi-annual festival, which originated in 2000 in Lexington, attracted about 10,000 people from across the country. Read more.
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Iron Triangle to add Louisville jobs
Credit-card processor Iron Triangle Payment Systems expects to create 162 jobs in Louisville over the next 12 months -- in addition to the 50 positions the business announced earlier that it would bring to town.
Iron Triangle, through its subsidiary Retriever Payment Systems, will invest $2.4 million in a center for technical customer service calls and related support. The new jobs will have an annual payroll of more than $5.2 million. Read more.
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CafePress keeps growing with clients' weird creations
CafePress.com has built a big business enabling people to quickly print opinions and art on T-shirts, mugs and other merchandise. The online marketplace, based in Foster City, Calif., allows people to create, buy and sell custom gear.
Now, the 7-year-old business is about to get bigger. The company's Louisville factory in Jefferson Riverport International will grow to 315 from 165 workers by year's end. Read more.
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Airport authority moves set stage for UPS expansion
The Louisville Regional Airport Authority and the Louisville Renaissance Zone Corp. have further paved the way for the growth of United Parcel Service Inc.'s operations at and near Louisville International Airport.
During a recent meeting, the airport authority board entered into a memorandum of understanding with Atlanta-based UPS that outlines five key details of UPS's expansion plans. Read more.
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Stones top Churchill's renter list
 Churchill Downs has been the home to more than horse racing during its 132 years. It's been the site of the Kentucky State Fair, a religious procession and orchestra performances.
The Rolling Stones concert adds a major rock-music event to that list.
The Stones' show is the highest-profile event in the track's efforts to get more use out of -- and money from -- its facilities outside the spring and fall racing meets. Attracting more off-season events was one of the reasons for Churchill's $121 million renovation that was completed last year. Read more.
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Spirits buoyed on waterfront
A host of government and business leaders gathered recently to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Waterfront Development Corp., which has overseen the riverside rejuvenation.
In 1986, Louisville's downtown waterfront was barricaded by a string of sand and salt piles, scrap yards, railroads and industry.
Nearly $100 million later, the riverfront has undergone an "almost unprecedented transformation," according to Glenn Allen, a partner in Hargreaves & Associates of San Francisco, the landscape-design firm that is Waterfront Park's master planner. Read more.
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2006 © Greater Louisville Inc. - The Metro Chamber of Commerce
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