Real estate | Econ development

Confronted by mega-ads, WLRN radio reporter thinks locally and nationally

By Rosland Gammon on Sep 01, 2010 in Best Practices, Featured, Media | Advertising, Real estate | Econ development

Kenny Malone, reporter/producer at radio station WLRN, based at The Miami Herald, noticed big ads appearing on buildings in Dade County. Then he received a press release from a company announcing that a “mural” was going up.
“What caught my eye was how enormous it was,” Kenny says of the 32,000-square-foot vinyl ad.
His segment that aired [...]

Tax-exempt bonds benefited oil industry more than NOLA neighborhoods

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 31, 2010 in Beats, Best Practices, Energy | Utilities | Mining, Featured, Investigation, Real estate | Econ development, Story ideas

Ariella Cohen, co-founder and staff reporter at the nonprofit New Orleans news site, The Lens, found that far more of the tax-exempt bonds issued to rebuild Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina went to the oil industry than to hard-hit areas in New Orleans.
In a piece for Newsweek marking the fifth anniversary of the storm, she writes:
“New [...]

IRE offers database of SBA disaster loans

By Linda Austin on Aug 30, 2010 in Basics, IRE, Investigation, Latest, Real estate | Econ development, Small | Private | Non-profit, Story ideas

Investigative Reporters and Editors is offering a database of disaster loans made by the Small Business Administration from fiscal 1980 to 2009. Journalists can use this database of 1,088,565 records to find where SBA disaster loans went in their market or determine who is not paying back SBA disaster loans, according to IRE Training Director [...]

Reuters goes to ground to find homes resold at 13 times foreclosure price

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 25, 2010 in Best Practices, Economy, Featured, Investigation, Investing | Banking, Real estate | Econ development

Nick Carey of Reuters heard from an editor about a mortgage-fraud hot spot in Chicago. When he went to check it out, he found a trend happening in poorer communities. He writes of one house:
“Public records show it sold in foreclosure for $25,500 in January 2009, then resold for $355,000 in October. In between, a [...]

Court doc nets St. Louis P-D story about city aid to indicted developer

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 19, 2010 in Beats, Best Practices, Real estate | Econ development

Tim Logan, who covers economic development for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said rumors were flying about a pending federal indictment against local real estate developer John Steffen, so the press release announcing it wasn’t a big surprise. However, a closer look at the filing did provide something he wasn’t expecting. His story says the city [...]

Journalist seeks sources for story on credit crunch for small businesses; can you help?

By Linda Austin on Aug 18, 2010 in Economy, Find help with a story, Investing | Banking, Real estate | Econ development, Story ideas

We at the Reynolds Center get queries from journalists seeking help with business stories, and we try to offer ideas and sources. We got one yesterday from a journalist in Wisconsin, who wrote:
“Folks starting up businesses say it’s impossible to get a commercial construction loan from any bank in the State of Wisconsin right now. [...]

StarTribune looks at negative impact of a Barnes & Noble sale on malls

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 17, 2010 in Best Practices, Real estate | Econ development, Retail | Lifestyle, TrendingTopic

Freelancer Don Jacobson takes the news of Barnes & Noble’s putting itself up for sale beyond who might buy it to who’ll likely feel the sting. He writes in the Minneapolis StarTribune:
“News last week that giant book retailer Barnes & Noble is putting itself up for sale sent tremors through a commercial real estate industry [...]

National and state efforts try to slow foreclosure rates

By Bernie Kohn on Aug 16, 2010 in Basics, Featured, Investing | Banking, Real estate | Econ development, Story ideas

On Wednesday, the Obama Administration announced that it will provide another $3 billion in aid for unemployed homeowners in 17 states and Washington, D.C. who are struggling to keep up with mortgage payments.
The money, which is coming from a combination of TARP bailout money and a new program led by the Department of Housing and [...]

‘Nat’ sound shines in PRI award winner on green buildings

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 16, 2010 in Best Practices, Energy | Utilities | Mining, Featured, Green Economy 2010, Real estate | Econ development, Technology

Jason Margolis of PRI’s “The World” radio program won a first-place award from the Society of Environmental Journalists for his segment on green commercial buildings.
In announcing his winning entry for Outstanding Beat/In-Depth Reporting, Radio, SEJ said, “This piece stood head and shoulders above the competition for the reporter’s skill in taking a simple and increasingly [...]