As I posted in April, Native Americans continue to push past stereotypes that peg their economic development efforts as nothing more than roulette wheels on reservation land. In fact, such casinos don't always find success, as was the case with the Crow Indians' Res-a-Vegas in south-central Montana. Fortunately, with an emphasis on fortune, the struggling Crow tribe has announced a new vision that will shif ...

There is a classic scene in the Simpsons movie when Homer and his family—arriving in Alaska to hide out from the EPA after Homer slimes Springfield by dumping a container of pig dung into the local lake—pull up at a toll booth and immediately are handed a $1,000 share of Alaskan oil revenue. The scene typifies the stereotype of Alaska as a state that sold its environmental soul to the oil industry in exchan ...

Does all the talk about the coming wave of electric cars have you thinking about extension cords? Or, to be more specific, do you toss and turn at night and wonder how you are going to maneuver the lawn mower around the extension cord while your new electric car is charging itself on the driveway? Not to worry. The great minds at Toyota already have given a lot of thought to these concerns, and they have a ...

About two dozen state economic development programs were showcased at last week's BIO conference in San Diego, but for at least one afternoon the show floor belonged to a megastar from the host state. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took center stage at the huge international biotech meeting, first during a laugh-laden keynote address and then at a walk-through and press conference in the California booth. In hi ...

Today, we open our blog to Mr. Frederick Metz Shepperd of Switzerland-based Quadral Group (www.quadralgroup.com). Frederick is also a member of Business Facilities' Editorial Advisory Board. If I told you there was a North American-based industry that is undertaking facilities expansions of 50% to increase production, has delivery times for products extending into 2012 and 2013, and is receiving bonuses of ...

Until recently, everyone in the current fiscal debacle has been playing their parts in a predictable manner. Top banking execs who presided over multi-billion-dollar losses have parachuted out of the wreckage of their financial institutions clutching hideous ''retirement'' bonuses without a shred of shame. Federal lawmakers who blissfully deregulated the banking industry and permitted it to morph into a Jup ...

We were standing on Sixth Avenue in the middle of Manhattan the other day, trying to hail a cab. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper and barely moving, and the cabs all had "off-duty" signs lit up, their drivers chattering on cell phones as they inched along. We were about to give up and join the hordes on the sidewalk for a 20-block hike, when a pedicab rolled up next to us. The man pedaling the bicycle motio ...

This summer, Business Facilities is devoting a lot of editorial coverage to businesses going green; our June cover story will look at location trends among green-technology companies. Also, our July annual rankings report will highlight the 20 greenest states in America based on comprehensive analysis of nine criteria, one of which is number of LEED-certified buildings by state. The LEED (Leadership in Ener ...

For as long as we can remember, tourists heading for Mexico have been warned: ''Don't drink the water!'' Well, if you're planning to fill up a couple of jugs with tap water in Los Angeles or San Diego before you head to Tijuana, you might want to think twice. According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, L.A. is poised to announce plans to recycle 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to ''drink ...

In developed nations, access to major roadways is taken for granted. We have six-lane dual carriageways, networks of precisely paved arteries cutting in and out of big cities, and transcontinental highways stretching for thousands of miles. Even those shady side streets and pot-holed back alleys are there when you need them--in my case, when I'm lost (regularly) and need to make a K-turn. But a recent artic ...