• JUMBO MORTGAGES
The national economic stimulus package that promises to put cash into the American public's wallets contains an additional sweetener for owners of expensive homes and the real estate industry.
• News highlights
NEWS UPDATE: NURSES TALKS
• PUBLIC PENSION FUND
It's been a bad month at the office for the folks who manage the state's public pension fund.
• Startup
Fowler Aims to ease PR, reporter contact Single-Cell LLC 4380 S.W. Crestwood Drive Portland, Ore. Formed in 2007 What it does: Helps publicists refine and improve their news releases instead of showering reporters with irrelevant, poorly written material. The product: A Web site, www.newsvetter.com, asks news-release writers a series of questions to make sure submissions are significant, complete, accurate and jargon-free. The founder: Andrew Fowler, a PR consultant who worked for the Waggener Edstrom agency. Employees: Only Fowler, 38, who works at home while raising 3-year-old twins. The idea source: Reporters tell Fowler they are so deluged by "news spam" that they miss pitches for stories on their beats. Meanwhile would-be newsmakers struggle to write informative news releases. "There's this animosity," Fowler says, "between reporters and PR people." The money: He's invested about $15,000. The dream: "To improve the way things are done between PR professionals and journalists." Fowler hopes to attract enough reporters, who use the site for free, that ultimately news presenters will pay to subscribe. The fear: "That people just don't want to change."
• THE CONSUMER
The success of the federal $150 billion emergency economic stimulus plan will hinge on whether American consumers do what they do best -- spend, spend, spend.
