Raytheon Missile Systems lands two contracts

Raytheon Missile Systems received two U.S. Department of Defense contracts.

One is for $16.6 million for seven Phalanx Close-In Weapon System Class A overhauls. The fast-reaction missile combats low and high flying missiles and has been installed on 187 U.S. Navy ships. It also is used by 20 foreign military forces. Work on the contract will be conducted at Raytheon’s Louisville, Ky., plant and is expected to be complete by 2011. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington is the contracting entity.

The other contract, for $7.7 million, is for 309 replacement baseline rocket motors that will be installed in AIM-120A, AIM-120B and AIM-120c Air Vehicles. The work is being contracted by Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Aircraft component maker

opens plant in Guaymas

A Los Angeles-based maker of structural components for commercial airliners has opened a manufacturing facility in Guaymas, Sonora.

Ducommun AeroStructures Inc. says initial production at the plant is the final assembly and painting of spoilers for use on new models of Boeing 737 jetliners.

Joseph C. Berenato, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ducommun, said the company’s board approved of building the plant about a year ago to meet Boeing’s growing demand for the spoilers and he said the company is prepared to expand the facility to meet future needs.

The Guaymas plant is the company’s second offshore manufacturing site. It opened a plant in Saraburi, Thailand, in 2006.

Ducommun AeroStructures, is a subsidiary of Ducommun Incorporated, which was founded in 1849. The AeroStructures division specializes in composite and metal bonding in assembling its components.

TECHNOLOGY

VA hospitals contract for

MC Technologies’ system

VA hospitals in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of both California and Texas will receive environmental information management systems and programs developed by Tucson’s MC Technologies.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs award a $689,323 contract to MC Technologies, 3280 E Hemisphere Loop.

The systems will bring the hospitals into complaince with environmental and safety standards for hazardous materials.

MC Technologies said its systems are already in place at all hospitals under the Carondelet Health Network and at University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino Campus.

BIOSCIENCES

High Throughput, UCSD to

collaborate on study

High Throughput Genomics Inc., a provider of microplate-based gene expression assay technology and services for the pharmaceutical industry, signed an agreement with the University of California, San Diego for a study on causes of diabetes.

High Throughput Genomics, 6296 E. Grant Road, will colloborate with UCSD to try find the genes reponsible for insulin resistance and how inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Mayo uses artificial heart

to save woman for 13 days

The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale implanted SynCardia’s CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t) in a 56-year-old Gilbert woman, marking the first time a patient in the Western U.S., outside of Tucson, has received the heart.

The artificial heart was implanted in late August when the woman’s own heart failed. She used the TAH-t heart for 13 days, until a donor heart could be found. Within a week of having the artificial heart implanted, SynCardia said she was out of intensive care and able to walk, with the use of a power station supplying air pressure to keep the artificial heart running.

Doctors had initially planned on implanting a ventricular assist device (VAD), which helps a weakened human heart continue to function. But they determined the patient’s condition was grave enough, they removed her heart entirely and substituted the temporary artificial heart as a bridge to finding a new donor heart.

SynCardia’s TAH-t was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004. It is a modern-day version of the 1980s Jarvik-7 artificial heart.

SMALL BUSINESS

SBA offers new online

applications for bonds

The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering an online application process that should give small business quicker access to security bonds.

The new Surety Bond Guarantee E-application System – or E-app – allows small businesses to submit applications for bonding assistance with surety companies that are registered to use the process. Small businesses and surety companies participating in the SBA prior approval program will be able to transmit application forms electronically to help expedite review and approval processes.

To access the E-app system, go to www.sba.gov/eapplication.

FINANCIAL

Meriwest Credit Union and

Bay Area competitor merge

Meriwest Credit Union is merging with Golden Bay Federal Credit Union, bringing together combined assets of $1.3 billion serving 92,000 members through 19 offices in northern California and Tucson.

The merger is due to be completed by Dec. 1, with Meriwest as the surviving name.

Meriwest, originally founded as the IBM credit union, has two offices in Tucson, 5801 E. Broadway and 9052 S. Rita Road. Golden Bay, was founded in 1957 by members who worked for NASA.

BORDER ISSUES

Customs Service names

new director for Arizona

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has named David Higgerson its new director of field operations for Arizona. He is a 35-year veteran of government service whose last assignment was port director at the Hidalgo-Phar, Texas, port of entry, the fourth busiest port on the United States-Mexico border.

Higgerson replaces Donna De La Torre, who retired July 31.

Higgerson, who is headquartered in Tucson, is chief of operations for eight ports of entry: Douglas, Naco, Nogales, Sasabe, Lukeville, San Luis, Tucson International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The Customs and Border Protection service says nearly 36 million people cross the Arizona-Mexico border each year.

ENTERTAINMENT/SPORTS

Volleyball championships

return to Tucson in 2008

USA Volleyball will return to Tucson next summer for the 2008 High Performance Championships.

The organization Oct. 10 announced its intention to return for a second consecutive year. The Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau says the event has a $2.4 million local economic impact.

Next year’s event will be July 23 - 27 in the Tucson Convention Center. The championships feature 82 teams of international teams of both boys and girls ages 19 or younger.

HOSPITALITY & LEISURE

Foothills Embassy Suites hires Grace Hospitality

Phoenix-based Grace Hospitality is the management company running the new Embassy Suites Tucson at Paloma Village, 6350 N. Campbell Ave.

The 120-suite Embassy Suites in the Catalina Foothills opened Sept. 10.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

State forms AERO to advise

on economic development

Gov. Janet Napolitano wants a more coordinated effort to oversee the state’s economic development so she announced the creaton of the Arizona Economic Resource Organization, or AERO, a nonprofit organization to oversee five existing agencies: the Science Foundation of Arizona, the Commerce and Economic Development Commission, the Greater Arizona Development Authority, the Arizona Department of Commerce and Arizona Global Network.

She says AERO’s board will be made up of corporate executives, economic developers and university officials. The board will create a development strategy and set policy. They can also advise on the creation of incentive packages to entice companies to open operations in Arizona.

Napolitano also said she wants the existing Arizona Global Network to expand its efforts recruiting foreign corporations and investors.

AGRICULTURE

State creates safety plan

covering leafy greens

The Arizona Department of Agriculture has created what it calls the Arizona Leafy Green Products Shipper Marketing Agreement.

The agreement is an industry initiated voluntary program to set up standards and procedures for leafy green shippers in order to assure the food safety of leafy greens.

The agreement calls for the establishment of a marketing committee to decide on safety procedures all signatories must abide by.

Leafy green products include all varieties of lettuce and products such as escarole, endive, spinach, cabbage, kale, arugula, and chard.

HEALTHCARE

Transitional rehab unit opens at El Dorado

Avalon Health and Rehabilitation, a transitional care unit, has opened on the third floor of the former El Dorado Hospital, 1400 N. Wilmot Road.

The unit will focus on short-term rehabilitation and complex medial services, according to TMC Healthcare, which owns what is now called the El Dorado Health Campus.

The 42-bed Avalon facility has private rooms with electric beds, phones and in-wall oxygen and suction for patients needing services such as rehabilitation, orthopedic, neurologic, complex medical services, infusion therapy, post-surgical care and wound care. It also has a state-of-the-art rehabilitative gym.

A ribbon-cutting for the center was held Oct. 10. To refer a patient to Avalon Health and Rehabilitation Center, contact Debbie Keyes in admissions, (520) 546-3800.

16-room Peppi’s House

is TMC’s new hospice

Peppi’s House, Tucson Medical Center’s new 16-bed hospice, opened Oct. 2 at 2715 N. Wyatt Drive, at the northwest corner of the Tucson Medical Center campus.

Each of the rooms has private bath and shower facilities with direct access to a patio surrounded by a garden. The facility also has a meditation chapel. There are also family rooms with kitchenettes and two rooms set aside for pediatric hospice.

TMC’s inpatient hospice services had previously been located in the Papago Building, a 1930s adobe structure.

MILITARY

Giffords’ office seeks

students for service academies

High school students interested in trying for a congressional nomination to attend a service academy have until Nov. 7 to submit applications to U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Congressional representatives nominate candidates to attend the academies − U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.; U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.; and U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. − but it is up to the academy to make the final determination.

Application forms, instructions and a list of required documents are available on Giffords’ website, www.giffords.house.gov. Click on the "services" tab on the left of the screen.

The applications are being accepted at Giffords’ Sierra Vista office, 77 Calle Portal, Suite, B-160.

HUMAN RESOURCES

State chamber offers Web

seminars on E-Verify system

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry has pledged to help businesses learn how to use the federal E-Verify program before a new employer sanctions law is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.

The state chamber has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to offer a weekly, live Web seminar demonstrating the program. It also allows individuals to ask questions directly to federal officials officers running the program.

The Web seminars are conducted every Thursday at 11 a.m., and will continue as long as there is a demand. Go online at www.azchamber.com for more information.

Another business group

joins sanctions law fight

The National Federation of Independent Business is the latest business organization to join efforts challenging Arizona’s new employer sanctions law.

The group has filed legal briefs in support of other groups who are challenging the legality of the law. Those groups include the Arizona Contractors Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform who argue the law, due to go into effect Jan. 1, interferes with federal jurisdiction and lacks due process.

Raytheon profiled for its

disability employment policy

The U.S. Department of Labor is profiling Raytheon Missile Systems as a leader in the design, development and production of missile systems, as part of a Web-based "faces of disability employment policy" series in observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The series can be found this month at www.dol.gov/odep.

NONPROFITS

Community Foundation names

achievement award finalists

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona has named 12 companies as finalists in its fourth annual Achievement Awards for impact and innovation.

The finalists for impact are:

ân¶ Small organizations: Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association and Community Coalition, Junior Achievement of Arizona, and Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services.

ân¶ Large organizations: Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault, Southern Arizona Legal Aid and St. Elizabeth’s Health Center.

The finalists for innovation are:

ân¶ Small organizations: Borderlands Theater, Chamber Music PLUS Inc. and International Sonoran Desert Alliance.

ân¶ Large organizations: Community Food Bank, Our Family Services and YWCA of Tucson.

The award winners will be named at a luncheon Nov. 15 at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way. Each winner will receive $5,000.

Tickets for the luncheon are $50 per person or $500 for a table of 10. To make reservations, e-mail Marie-Claire Péron Strang at mcpstrang@cfsoaz.org or call (520) 770-0800, ext. 127.

Nonprofits receive first gifts

from Social Venture Partners

Social Venture Partners Greater Tucson gave its first gifts of $75,000 each to Voices: Community Stories Past and Present and Literacy Volunteers of Tucson.

The nonprofits will use the money for capacity-building over the next three years. Both organizations will also receive time and expertise from Social Venture Partners in planning, marketing and communications, information technology, human resources, financial management, fund development, leadership development and legal affairs.

Social Venture Partners was launched in October 2006 by Helaine Levy, executive director of Diamond Family Philanthropies, and Steve Alley, CEO and president of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona. It uses a venture capital model to affect positive social change. Community literacy was selected as the focus for the group’s first investments.

Stephanie Sklar, is the executive director of Social Venture Partners.

Blake Foundation now

part of Easter Seals

The Blake Foundation is now a national affiliate of Easter Seals.

Under its new name, the Easter Seals Blake Foundation, the nonprofit organization says it will receive increased funding that will go toward expanding programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. Last year, the Blake Foundation service nearly 10,000 clients and their families.

Founded in 1950 as the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Southern Arizona, the name was changed in 1993 to honor one of its founders, Danny Blake, who had cerebral palsy, and to recognize the agency’s expanding mission. It is headquartered at 5704 E. Grant Road and offers services at 16 locations around Southern Arizona.