Los Alamos a petri dish for millionaires, study finds
Los Alamos, N.M. – A place more widely known for gamma rays and gigabytes than glitz and glamour has the highest concentration of millionaires in the United States, according to a study.
One in five Los Alamos households has a net worth of more than $1 million, excluding the value of the family’s primary residence, the study published Friday by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine said.
“The reason: The main industry is the famed Los Alamos National Laboratory, a magnet for well-paid government scientists,” the magazine said.
Locales on the list tend to be popular among wealthy retirees or home to innovators or gifted talent pools, or have a high concentration of corporations and highly paid executives. The study was conducted by TNS Financial Services, which tracks affluent households.
The report surprised Kevin Holsapple, executive director of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce.
“If it is true, we have – probably have – the highest percentage of working millionaires,” he said. “There’s not too many people footing around here acting like millionaires or sitting back and enjoying their trust funds.”
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Navigant deal to offer faster airport security
Arapahoe County-based travel-management company Navigant International said Verified Identity Pass will offer Navigant customers a corporate discount on membership fees for the Clear Registered Traveler Program to allow travelers to go through airport security checkpoints in special lanes.
Navigant said it signed an agreement with Verified Identity Pass, whose Clear Registered Traveler Program is being used at Orlando International Airport. The federal Transportation Security Administration plans to expand the registered- traveler program this summer.
COLORADO SPRINGS
LSI Logic sells facility to Calif. sensor maker
LSI Logic Corp. sold its 239,200-square-foot facility in Colorado Springs to dpiX LLC, the company announced Tuesday. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based dpiX, which produces sensors for X-ray imaging fields, will begin retrofitting the facility and eventually will employ about 125 people.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Liberty Global Inc. exits France, Norway
Liberty Global Inc., the largest operator of cable systems outside the U.S., has completed its retreat from European markets after pulling out of France and Norway.
The Douglas County-based company said April 5 it planned to sell its Swedish cable business, two weeks after announcing a retreat from France. The transactions, together with the sale of its Norwegian business announced in December, will hand the company gross proceeds of $2.5 billion.
DENVER
Frontier doubles up on Calif. trip miles
Frontier Airlines said it is offering double miles for flights from Denver to California destinations San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, Orange County and Fresno between April 14 and May 31.
CENTENNIAL
KB Homes picks new president from Ind.
Rusty Crandall has been named president of KB Homes Colorado. He replaces Barry Grant, who is leaving to lead the company’s operations in northern California.
Crandall, now head of the KB Home Indiana division, joined the company in 2001 as executive vice president of the Colorado division and helped lead the group to complete nearly 2,000 homes that year.
DENVER
Convention bureau announces PR pick
The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau announced Tuesday it has hired Development Counsellors International as its national public-relations firm.
New York-based DCI has subcontracted Denver-based Linhart McClain Finlon Public Relations to act as its local partner.
NEW YORK
Fidelity, U.S. Trust buy big into UAL
Fidelity Investments and U.S. Trust Corp. have become the largest investors in United Airlines parent UAL Corp., new regulatory filings show, and now own one-fourth of the nation’s second-largest carrier.
Fidelity bought just over 12 million shares last month for a 13 percent stake as of March 31, while U.S. Trust purchased 11.3 million shares and owns 12.2 percent of the company, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ARLINGTON, Va.
Groups testify against Wal-Mart’s bank bid
Labor and consumer groups said Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s frequent regulatory violations and failure to provide fair pay make it unfit to operate a bank.
Groups including Jobs for Justice and Americans for Democratic Action spoke at the second day of hearings at Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. headquarters in Arlington, Va. The FDIC will hold a final day of hearings in Overland Park, Kan., on April 25.
PHILADELPHIA
Comcast offerings to hit Wal-Mart aisles
The nation’s largest cable provider said Monday it would begin selling phone, video and high-speed Internet service at Wal-Mart stores this spring.
Comcast services will be offered in about 500 stores nationwide, at kiosks called “Connection Centers.” Customers can already buy products such as cellphone service at Connection Centers.
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
Eye-fungus scare hits Bausch & Lomb stock
Shares of Bausch & Lomb Inc. tumbled 14.6 percent Tuesday after the eye-care products maker halted shipments of a contact- lens solution linked by federal officials to a rare fungal infection that can cause blindness.
Analysts cut their ratings, fearing the news could hurt sales of the company’s other products. The stock dipped $8.41 to close at a 2 1/2-year low of $49.03 on the New York Stock Exchange.
SANTA MONICA, Calif.
MySpace.com gets top cop for its pages
News Corp.’s social networking Internet site MySpace.com appointed Hemanshu Nigam, who ran consumer security at Microsoft Corp., as the website’s security chief to police its 70 million personal Web pages.
The appointment comes after MySpace.com, popular with teens, has been under fire for explicit content and the risk of exposure to sexual predators.
