Shughart Grows West
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, a 148-attorney law firm headquartered in Kansas City, has finalized a merger with Phoenix-based Goodwin Raup. The Arizona law firm consists of 25 lawyers with an office in Phoenix and in Tucson.

Shughart’s addition follows an earlier move west to Denver, Colo., where the firm opened an office in 1998. That office has become one of the fastest-growing in Denver and employs 20 lawyers.

The Arizona offices will be renamed Shughart Thomson & Kilroy P.C. Goodwin Raup.

UMB Funds Scouted Out
UMB Scout WorldWide Fund was chosen by Bloomberg Personal Finance as one of the top three international funds for 2002. The fund was ranked against more than 7,300 equity funds. Bloomberg listed 21 funds that “demonstrate dependably strong historical performance, superior management, low costs and turnover and which have worked to minimize risk while performing impressively,” says Steve Gittelson, Bloomberg editor-in-chief. UMB Scout was the only Kansas City-based fund selected for the list.

Firstar Becomes U.S. Bank
Firstar Home Mortgage has taken the U.S. Bank Home Mortgage name, following its purchase in February 2001. The name change, which took effect Jan. 14, dictates that all new home loan applications will take place under the U.S. Bank moniker. Office signs will begin to change from Firstar to U.S. Bank later this year.

CBIZ Crosses The State Line
Century Business Services has signed on for the Pinnacle Corporate Center III building, to be constructed at 115th and Tomahawk Creek Parkway in Leawood. The company is looking to consolidate its two Kansas City subsidiaries, CBIZ Benefits and Insurance Services, located at 2600 Grand Ave., and CBIZ MHM Business Services at 420 Nichols Road. Currently the company employs 340 associates from the Kansas City metro area. Plans for the actual move have been set for sometime in 2003.

NEW year a tough start January proved a rough beginning for some companies. Houlihan’s Restaurants filed Chapter 11 on Jan. 23 in order to restructure their debt and operations. The company stated that though the company enjoys strong brand-name recognition, reorganization was in order to succeed in the restaurant marketplace. The company expects to generate positive cash flow during 2002. No layoffs or restaurant closings were declared by the company.

Kmart and 37 of its U.S. subsidiaries also filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 on Jan. 22. The company announced that a $2 billion DIP financing package has been secured through JPMorgan Securities and Fleet Securities. Low fourth-quarter sales, evaporation of the surety bond market and an erosion of supplier confidence set the decision to file. Kmart has its sights on 2003 for emergence from Chapter 11.

Jobs Increase in December
Missouri’s seasonal unemployment rate unexpectedly took a dip, falling three-tenths of a point to 4.4 percent. Winter weather conditions that usually cause a rise did not occur. Kansas City’s unemployment also dropped from 4.2 to 3.9 percent.

Homes On The Rise
Low interest rates, regulatory changes and good weather is credited for the rise in Kansas City-area residential permit activity in December. A total of 685 permits were issued in December 2001, twice the amount of permits issued the year before. The rise helped close out 2001 six percent higher than 2000.

For the fourth year in a row, Olathe led the Kansas City area in permits issued, followed by: Kansas City, Mo.; Overland Park, Kan.; and Lee’s Summit, Mo.

American Century Best Bos
Fortune Magazine declared American Century the 23rd best company to work for in the nation. The investment adviser fell three spots from last year’s ranking, but was lauded for avoiding massive layoffs despite being “clobbered by the decline on Wall Street,” says Fortune.

CORRESPONDENT

Washington, D.C.
Disability Law Narrows
The U.S. Supreme court voted to narrow the number of people covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ruling that the inability to perform a specific job is not automatically a disability covered under law.

The ruling overturned a lower federal court’s finding that an assembly line worker at a Toyota plan in Kentucky who suffered carpal tunnel syndrome was disabled in the “major life activity of performing manual tasks.” The ruling was overturned because the U.S. Supreme court ruled that the worker could still perform everyday tasks such as brushing her teeth, washing her face, bathing, tending her garden, etc. If an employee’s wrist pain is significant enough to severely limit such everyday activities, the person can still qualify as disabled.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a Missouri House Bill 1315 was introduced to expand the number of people covered by the ADA law. The bill would subject the state of Missouri to lawsuits for monetary damages in Missouri state courts for violations of the federal ADA law.

Jefferson City
Missouri Transportation
After Missouri’s roads and highways were nationally ranked below most other states, law makers have been proposing their solutions. Options include:

Raising $436 million through a five-cent state fuel tax increase and raising the sales tax by 0.375 percent.

Generating $1 billion through a 1-percent sales-tax increase, alcohol and tobacco tax increase, four-cent fuel tax increase and increasing registration fees.

Raising the fuel tax by five cents, sales tax by 0.25 percent and increasing vehicle registration by 25 to 33 percent.

Increasing the fuel tax by six cents over six years, increasing sales tax by 0.3125 percent and increasing vehicle registration fees.

Implementing a three-cent increase in fuel tax over three years, a 0.25-percent increase in sales tax and a 0.5-percent increase in motor vehicle sale tax. Drivers license and registration fees would increase by 50 percent. About two-thirds of the sales-tax revenue would be dedicated to public transit.