Phoenix business news and other stories and iformation about electrical contracting in Arizona.

Arizona gets remaining $20 million in weatherization funds
Arizona is getting the final $20 million of the planned $57 million in stimulus funds aimed at weatherizing low-income homes in the state.

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FireHost gets $2 million in funding
FireHost Inc., a secure Web hosting firm with operations in Texas and Arizona, has closed a $2 million round of funding after only three months.

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Forks and Corks set for April date
The 7th annual Forks and Corks culinary celebration will be held on Thursday, April 8 at the Camelback Esplanade, at the southeast corner of Camelback and 24th Streets.

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Scottsdale resort goes dark for Earth Hour
The Fairmont Scottsdale is going dark to mark Earth Hour, an environmental awareness event organized by the World Wildlife Fund.

Thirteen Percent Increase in U.S. Homeowners Who Say They Will Remodel in 2010
After a year of steady declines in home remodeling, the spring 2010 U.S. Remodeling Sentiment report published by www.remodelormove.com reveals a 13% increase in the number of homeowners who say they will remodel in the next 12 months

Hot Wheels: BMW X6 crosses sports coupe with sport utility
Introduced in the summer of 2008 and joined by performance M and hybrid models for the 2010 model year, the BMW X6 takes the crossover genre onto a new path racing up performance and style over the similarly sized X5.

Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% as Another 64,000 Construction Work...
The construction unemployment rate jumped to 27.1% and construction employment dropped to a 14-year low as another 64,000 construction workers lost jobs in February

Dueling policies: State immigration laws driven by local concerns
Editor’s note: Christine Rogel, an Arizona State University journalism student, wrote this story as part of the News21 program, which challenged students from 12 of the nation’s top journalism schools to experiment with various media on in-depth a...

NEMA Publishes SSL Dimming Best Practices White Paper
Rosslyn, Va.-based National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published LSD 49-2010, 'Solid State Lighting for Incandescent Replacement—Best Practices for Dimming.'

Veterans more likely to have jobs
Veterans in Arizona are less likely to be unemployed than the general population, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the sector’s 2009 unemployment rate of 6.7 percent was less than the national average of 8.1 percent.

FMI Releases NRCI for the First Quarter 2010
Raleigh, N.C.-based FMI recently released its Non-Residential Construction Index (NRCI) report

First American opens call center, hiring 100
First American Home Buyers Protection Plan moved into a call center in north Phoenix along with 80 new employees. The company is a division of Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American Financial Services.

GE Sponsors Contractor Rewards
Company launches industry-wide loyalty program for residential builders and contractors

SBA 504 loans jump to $19.3M in AZ
U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loans in Arizona increased for the third consecutive month in February, according to the Phoenix office of Small Business Finance, the nation’s largest 504 lender.

Average Annual Pay Increases at A/E/P Firms Continue to Rise
Despite the economic challenges that many architecture, engineering, planning (A/E/P) and environmental consulting firms have faced in recent years, a majority of firms continue to include pay increases for their staff in their annual budgets

Ceremony to honor Piestewa, Williams
Members of the public are invited to a memorial ceremony Tuesday to honor those killed battle, including the ongoing Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The event marks the anniversaries of the deaths of Army PFC Lori Ann Piestewa, the first woman killed i...

Safety, March 9, 2010
The best precaution against arc blast is to minimize your exposure (do as much as possible outside the hazardous area) and wear the proper PPE