Economy & Business

Hospitals in western Pennsylvania are warning that their operating margins are shrinking sharply, and that’s not counting the impact of the sequester from a 2 percent reduction from Medicare.

Denis Lukes, vice president at the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, said operating margins at the trade association's 56 member hospitals dropped by more than half from a year ago. That coupled with possible cuts to government reimbursement leads to a “perfect storm.”

US Airways mechanics could be voting soon to trade in their old union for new representation.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has fielded the needed papers with the National Mediation Board requesting an election. The union says it has collected 2,800 signatures from the 4,500 US Airways mechanics who are currently represented by the International Association of Machinists.

Many people dream of having their own business but how do you get started? Business contributor Rebecca Harris begins a two-part series on the basics of starting a business. She talks with attorney Beth Slagle about what you need to know from writing a business plan to hiring employees. Also take a look at some of the State websites for proper business licensing and fees:

With as many as 30,000 visitors and runners making their way to downtown Pittsburgh Sunday for the marathon, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is hoping to put an “extra shine” on the Golden Triangle.

“This is something we do every Saturday but it is an extra special weekend,” said Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) CEO Jeremy Waldrup who is hoping to see about 50 volunteers show up at the group’s Liberty Avenue office Saturday at 10:00a.m.

The volunteers will be out spiffing up the streets and green spaces for about four hours according to Waldrup.

The Penguins host the New York Islanders this evening in the second game of their best of seven first round playoff series.  That means another three-plus million dollars for Pittsburgh’s economy.

“You just knew at the start [of the lockout-shortened NHL season] the Penguins would make the playoffs,” said Craig Davis, CEO of VisitPittsburgh.  “Hopefully, they’ll go very, very far because there’s a real significant economic impact to the city when they go that far.”

Whether you’re a marathoner or recreational runner it goes without saying, the most essential piece of running equipment is a good pair of running shoes. This week, our contributor Rebecca Harris discusses the business of running shoes.

Interested in the running shoe business? Find out more about the athletic footwear industry and pick up some tips for training for a marathon:

Local union leaders gathered in Market Square on Monday with the families of workers who have died on the job in Allegheny County, honoring them with a Workers' Memorial Day.

According to the event's organizers, 12 people died on the job in Allegheny County from May 2012 to the current month.

  As a college student, what was your approach to financial planning? Did you even have one? High school seniors preparing to move on to college and college seniors starting careers or graduate work often find that there's something missing from their education, personal financial management. The Missing Semester is a financial planning book by Gene Natali Jr., Senior Vice President at C.S. McKee a Pittsburgh investment firm. He and Katz School of business professor Jay Sukits recently held a student roundtable on financial literacy where college and high school students from around the region shared their financial planning stories. Hear how Western PA students are making financial choices and consider your own as we discuss the challenges of money management and school.

"The choices we make every day have financial consequences--in some cases, BIG financial consequences. "

Pittsburgh Urban Initiatives (PUI) has been awarded $35 million in tax credits by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to help spur investments in the city’s low-income communities.

The New Markets Tax Credit Program began in 2000 and allows individual corporations and investors to receive a credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in Community Development Entities such as the PUI.

Investors can then receive 39 percent of their total investment in credits over seven years.

Business CEOs and academicians from the U.S. and China will meet this weekend in Pittsburgh to discuss how to best strengthen business ties.   

Pengxuan Chen, chair of the second Carnegie Mellon University Summit on US-China Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said the forum is bringing in more than 40 speakers to discuss topics where both countries share interests.

She said the hope is to better promote the Pittsburgh region to Chinese investors and business people.

With the steady depletion of earth’s natural resources and accelerating population growth, more and more people are giving serious thought to the idea of outer space resource exploration.

But how should the process be regulated? Professor Dimitris Kraniou, Point Park University Chair of the Department of Global Management and Organization, has been teaching this subject matter for years in his special project classes for graduate students. He turns real life global problems into outer space "what if" scenarios for students to solve.