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Could The Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful?

Every investor in Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. Warren Buffett said that he likes ‘a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people’. So it’s nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Xinyuan Real Estate is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of US$291m, which means it wouldn’t have the attention of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it’s seems that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about XIN.

NYSE:XIN Ownership Summary, April 23rd 2019

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it’s included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Xinyuan Real Estate already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 5.1% of the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It’s therefore worth looking at Xinyuan Real Estate’s earnings history, below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

NYSE:XIN Income Statement, April 23rd 2019

We note that hedge funds don’t have a meaningful investment in Xinyuan Real Estate. As far I can tell there isn’t analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.. Insiders own US$131m worth of shares in the US$291m company. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

The general public holds a 43% stake in XIN. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private equity firms hold a 6.7% stake in XIN. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and — as the name suggests — don’t invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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Unique, fun, competitive, promposals here to stay among Colorado Springs teens

Rock Canyon High School junior Olivia Myers, left, was the recipient of this “promposal” from fellow junior Jack Ramsey, right, recently.

Courtesy of Olivia Myers

“Will you go to the prom with me?” is so passé.

The question doesn’t seem right in today’s teen universe without something that screams lights, camera and action.

From a singing invitation to balloons filled with paper posing the question to an illuminated walkway spelling out the request, the promposal appears to be a trend that’s here to stay.

“It’s a personal thing that shows that person means more to you,” says Dean Reis, a senior at Woodland Park High School.

Officially defined as an elaborately stated request to be someone’s date to a prom, the tradition started nationally in 2011 and has grown to become yet another competitive element of the high school years.

“Apps like Instagram and Twitter have taught us how to compare ourselves very well,” he said, “and this is just another (way) to showcase.”

Of course, part of the experience is posting photos on social media.

So guys feel the need to make a promposal “big and grand, but also unique and different,” Derrius said.

Olivia Myers, a junior at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch, has been fantasizing about hers since she was in middle school.

“I’ve seen different ways and wondered how it would happen for me,” the 17-year-old said. “It’s a desire for a lot of girls.”

Last week, unbeknownst to Olivia, her boyfriend enlisted the help of her family to arrange tea lights in the driveway of her house to form the word “Prom?”

It’s also kind of fun, Dean said, to be romantic and chivalrous leading up to a special night that remains a teenage rite of passage.

The element of surprise — “When that person walks in, and you see their face, catching them off-guard” — is the best part, he says.

Dean’s been known to amass the Woodland Park High men’s ensemble to pop the question in public with the song, “My Girl.”

“It can be very inexpensive when you take the time to consider what’s important and special between two people and put thought behind your promposal.”

Other times, students make posters with the question and hang them on the intended’s car in the parking lot.

While promposals are often expected, Bruce said it’s still not bad to go the old-fashioned route and just ask the person you’d like to go with.

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Colorado lawmakers react to Robert Mueller’s report

On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. On Sunday, Attorney General William Barr released a four-page letter to Congress that said the investigation did not provide evidence “sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense.”

The special counsel “does not exonerate” Trump of obstructing justice, Barr said, and his report “sets out evidence on both sides of the question.”

Trump claimed the report is a “Complete and Total EXONERATION” in a tweet when in fact, Mueller did not make a determination on whether Trump committed obstruction of justice in the Russia probe.

Colorado lawmakers react to the news on social media:

Colorado senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner both said that the American people have a right to know what is in Mueller’s report. Bennet called for more clarity on why Barr chose not to pursue the obstruction of justice charge.

The American people deserve to see the full Mueller report. We also need more information about the report’s findings on obstruction of justice and why the Attorney General chose not to pursue that charge.

— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) March 24, 2019

Gardner on Sunday afternoon said the general public needs to “see as much of the report as possible.” He also said the principle findings revealed that Trump and his team didn’t collude with Russia.

Robert Mueller led a fair and thorough investigation. The public needs to be able to see as much of the report as possible, but the principle findings reveal that the President & his team did not collude with the Russian gvt.

This is good news for our country and it is time for Congress to move forward and get to work for the American people.

The report & Special Counsel indictments also confirm what we have known for some time, Russia did interfere in our election. Congress needs to continue our pressure on Russia & not let them go unpunished for these acts. I’ll continue to pursue more sanctions on the Putin regime.

— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) March 24, 2019

In a statement sent to The Denver Post Sunday evening, Rep. Ed Perlmutter said: “I have said since the start of the investigation, the American people deserve to see the full Mueller report and all underlying documents. I urge Attorney General Barr to make this information publicly available as soon as possible.

“From what we know today, Congress has a responsibility to continue its investigations because Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump and there are more unanswered questions.”

We need to see the full Mueller report and all underlying documents. AG Barr should make it publicly available as soon as possible. From what we know today, there are more unanswered questions and Congress has a responsibility to continue its investigations.

— Rep. Ed Perlmutter (@RepPerlmutter) March 25, 2019

The Attorney General is entitled to his opinion. Now, Congress and the American people should have an opportunity to form their own. The AG needs to release the full report to the public immediately so that we, the people, can judge for ourselves.

Atty General Barr’s report that there will be no new indictments confirms what most of us knew all along, that there was never any collusion with Russia. I am looking forward to being fully briefed on the findings of this report, to include the burden of cost to the taxpayers.

We need full transparency in what Special Counsel Mueller uncovered throughout his 22 month investigation, which is why the full report must be released. The American people deserve to know all of the facts, and the DOJ owes the public more than a brief synopsis.

I thank Robert Mueller & his team for their service. Democrats & Republicans in Congress have overwhelmingly called for AG Barr to release the full report, not a summary, so we can assess the facts and perform our constitutional duties. The American people deserve transparency.

— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) March 25, 2019

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Hebrew Home to co-develop low-income senior housing

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that construction has started on a $91 million affordable-housing development for low-income seniors in the Bronx. Residents will receive on-site support services from RiverSpring Health’s Hebrew Home at Riverdale, which is co-developing the project with Foxy Management.

"As you look at the new class of older adults—more of a baby boomer population—the nursing home model is not the model that’s going to carry us forward. Affordable housing with services is absolutely one of the most effective programs to do this," said Daniel Reingold, president and CEO of RiverSpring Health.

The new housing is expected to help divert older adults from shelter sites and frequent use of expensive health care, such as emergency departments, Reingold said.

RiverSpring continues with its larger business strategy to build out senior housing for residents of all economic means. That includes continuing work on New York City’s first continuing-care retirement community.

Arthur Avenue Apartments in Belmont will consist of 88 studio apartments and 88 one-bedroom apartments, the governor’s office said. That will include 54 apartments reserved for formerly homeless seniors with chronic health conditions.

Services for the 54 supportive apartments will be provided funding through the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, administered by the state Department of Health. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development will provide $13.3 million, and the City Council has awarded $500,000.

BronxCare Health System, St. Barnabas Hospital and a number of urgent-care clinics are located nearby.

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Will burger chains coming to Colorado makes us forget about our own burger history?

Copyright 2017 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Editor’s Note: ‘Our Colorado’ stories help natives and newcomers navigate the challenges related to our rapidly growing state, including real estate and development, homelessness, transportation and more. To comment on this or other 360 stories, email us at OurCO@TheDenverChannel.com. See more ‘Our Colorado’ stories here.

DENVER — We can all agree that growth is top of mind for all of us in our growing Colorado. While growth is often seen as a good thing, we also don’t want to lose sight of what gives “Our Colorado” its proud history. That includes our food history.

We saw the lines up and down Larimer Street to get into the new Shake Shack in Denver; people even applauded when the doors opened! One woman drove all the way from Texas so she could be at her fourth Shake Shack grand opening.

But what about Colorado burgers? Did you know Colorado has its own claim to fame with the cheeseburger?

The Humpty Dumpty used to be at Speer and Alcott in Denver. It’s long gone now with a Key Bank is in its place, although if you go to the location, you will find a marker showing where the restaurant once stood. The Humpty Dumpty laid claim to being the home of the world’s first cheeseburger in 1935. As the story goes, a man by the name of Louis Ballast took the first steps registering the cheeseburger trademark, but just didn’t follow through.

Ask any Coloradan and we already have some great burgers.

Have you tried Bud’s in Sedalia? Just don’t ask for fries! How about the original Cherry Cricket on 2nd Avenue? Or Grandpa’s Burger Haven on South Federal? These three always make the lists of some of the best mouth-watering burgers around town.

And now, make room for even more burger places.

Yes, there is Larkburger, Smashburger, Park Burger, Burger Fi and too many more to mention, and now we hear Illegal Burger is opening more restaurants in Colorado; and In-N-Out hasn’t even started here yet. How many burger joints is too many? One longtime Colorado woman told us “the more the merrier.”

It seems the phrase from the “Field of Dreams” movie is at play here. “If you build it, he will come.” The question is, will he come back for another burger?

Now it’s your turn. What did we miss? Is there some great burger place out there we all need to know about? What’s your favorite place for a burger? We want to hear about it. Email us at OurCO@TheDenverChannel.com.

Copyright 2018 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Colorado Springs possibly breaking state law by doling out millions in secret sessions

In closed executive sessions that some legal experts say violate Colorado’s open meetings law, the Colorado Springs City Council has doled out about $5.4 million to settle a string of cases, including racial and gender discrimination.

The council’s closed-door process is so secretive that it remains unclear how long it’s been going on, where much of the money comes from and how much has been spent.

The city’s attorneys settled at least seven such cases since 2013, and neither public votes nor official council records approving the payments could be found by The Gazette.

The newspaper’s review included a search of legal filings obtained from the city through a Colorado Open Records Act request.

The city declined to respond to questions about public votes, discussions and the history of the council’s practices.

City spokeswoman Jamie Fabos said that would be an inappropriate use of time for the city’s attorneys.

Experts decry the actions – which date back years, if not decades – as a flagrant breach of the state’s open meeting laws. Governmental entities and other public bodies are prohibited from making decisions in closed sessions under the state’s open meeting law. The Gazette recently reported two instances in which the council appeared to break that law.

Even informal council actions, such as giving direction to City Attorney Wynetta Massey through head nods, constitute a decision, says Denver First Amendment attorney Steven D. Zansberg, who has represented The Gazette.

Many council members have expressed unease with the protocol, and Councilman Don Knight is pushing to change the city’s code and end the secret settlements.

Knight said Massey assured him the practice of approving such settlements in confidential executive sessions is legal. Massey said that approval for settlements can come behind closed doors because the council isn’t taking legislative action. She said talks about such settlements are protected by attorney-client privilege.

"We can continue with our practice because there’s never been a Colorado law (on this), and our attorney thinks we’re doing OK," Knight said. "I never agreed with that. What are we protecting?"

Most lawsuits filed against the city are dismissed. But recent city settlements include:

– $2.5 million for 12 female police officers after a federal judge ruled in their favor, deciding that a physical aptitude test discriminated against women and damaged their careers.

– $425,000 to a New Mexico-based nonprofit alleging thousands of Clean Air Act violations at the Martin Drake Power Plant.

– $120,000 to a former accounting supervisor at the Colorado Springs Airport who claimed she was denied a promotion and adequate training and faced retaliation because of her race.

At least one settlement was detailed in a city news release after it was finalized. Others are accessible only through court documents or CORA requests.

Public left in dark

Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, questioned why the council believed it needed to go behind closed doors to approve settlements.

"How does the public know about these settlements, some of which it sounds like are being paid for with public money, unless they talk about it in a public meeting?" asked Roberts. "That’s the intention of the law, that government business ought not be conducted in secret. And especially when they’re talking about the expenditures of public funds."

But the open meetings law has few teeth, Roberts said.

The first step would be to request recordings from the executive sessions in question to investigate the council’s actions, he said.

City staff denied Gazette requests for several such recordings.

The next step is to sue, Roberts said.

"The judge could issue an injunction saying, ‘Don’t do this again.’ They could also nullify any decisions that were made in executive sessions," he said. "But there aren’t fines or things like that."

The council’s practice almost certainly violates the intent of the law, said former state Rep. Bob Hagedorn, who helped revise the open meeting law in the 1990s.

Politicians prefer closed meetings too often, Hagedorn said. Hiding behind closed doors limits the public’s knowledge of the government’s operations and diminishes elected officials’ accountability, he said.

"I’ve seen how executive sessions can be stretched," he said. "Sometimes running a government agency gets a little messy, but this is what having an open government and democracy is all about."

Massey defends the secret settlements as legal. The amounts eventually are made public through court records, quarterly reports from her office and the city’s budgeting process, she said.

But those quarterly reports do not contain settlement documents and often do not detail settlement amounts.

"An attorney has to keep communications with clients closed. There is no transparency there. The transparency comes in the expenditure of public funds," Massey said. "You don’t have a right to get inside the heads of the people making the decisions. You get to know what those decisions were, but the thought process is one of those things protected in the confines of an executive session."

Mayor John Suthers was out of town but said by email he stands by Massey’s explanation.

Fort Collins, Pueblo and Salida settle lawsuits similarly. Salida’s City Council might have breached the open meeting law by approving a $20,000 settlement in an executive session in March, the Salida Mountain Mail reported.

But other Colorado cities are more transparent.

The Boulder City Council doesn’t hold executive sessions, said Councilwoman Lisa Morzel. Settlement agreements are voted on in public.

The Greeley City Council also votes publicly on settlements, said City Attorney Doug Marek.

The Denver City Council likewise always votes in public on settlements, said Councilman Rafael Espinoza.

Unlike the Colorado Springs council, the Denver council plays no part in settlement negotiations, he said.

"If you’re negotiating anything in executive sessions, it’s almost like how you get the votes. ‘I’m going to work this until I get the requisite number of votes one way or the other,’" Espinoza said. "That creates a situation that’s prone to corruption."

Some Colorado Springs council members take issue with Massey’s defense.

Councilman Bill Murray has been extremely critical, saying the council repeatedly and frequently breaches open meeting laws. Murray walked out of a February executive session in protest, for which he was condemned by some of his council colleagues.

Others echo Murray’s sentiments.

Knight said it’s "astounding" that millions in settlements were approved without a public vote, and he’s been uncomfortable with the practice since 2016. The issue has taken a back seat for years due to other pressing issues and because settlements are infrequent, he said.

Knight said he’s asked Massey for clarification twice. And twice he’s received the same answer, copied and pasted from the same email.

He did not vote for Massey’s $4,400 pay raise approved by the council in February. Neither did Murray.

Ask ethics experts

Council members often lean on Massey for advice, but the city’s Independent Ethics Commission should be the guiding authority in most cases, Knight said.

"The city attorney is not a judicial branch; they’re an advisory branch," he said. "If she told us, ‘You don’t need to come out to vote on it,’ that doesn’t mean that we on council can’t turn around and say we still want to vote on it."

If the secret settlements don’t end soon, Knight said, he’ll likely submit a letter to the ethics commission.

"If we violate the open records act, it’s an ethics violation as well as legal," he said. "The Independent Ethics Commission is set up to be our actual adjudicators, to go in, look at the case hard and recommend to the council whether the covered person has committed a violation or not."

Rather than operating on the honor system or updating the council’s rarely read rules of conduct, Knight said, the best solution is to change the city code to mandate public votes for high-dollar settlements. Five council members would have to approve that change. Six votes would be needed to override a mayoral veto.

Suthers said he has no objection. "If a majority of City Council members want to change the procedures for executive sessions, they are free to do so," he said.

A majority of the council said they are willing to discuss a change, but need to see specific language before committing their support.

"The public needs that (transparency)," Councilman Tom Strand said. "They deserve some kind of ability to know what we’re doing with their money."

But negotiations still must take place in closed meetings so as not to expose the city to more liabilities, Strand said.

Settlements don’t necessarily indicate fault on the city’s part, he said. Rather, they often represent a good deal by saving taxpayer dollars on court costs and legal fees.

Council President Richard Skorman also said negotiations should be private. But, once the two parties reach a tentative agreement, the council should vote publicly on that pact, he added. That public process will give residents insight into which council members support or oppose the move and why, he said.

The council also should explain specifically why executive sessions are being held, Skorman said. Those descriptions, which are required by law, have been too vague and haven’t always met the narrow guidelines that allow the group to hold a closed meeting, he said.

"I’d like to see us err on the side of being as public as we can," Skorman said.

Councilman Dave Geislinger said he could support a code change, adding, tentative settlements can change, so the council should take care in that regard.

While Council President Pro Tem Jill Gaebler might support a more robust description of closed sessions, she said she probably wouldn’t support a code change for public votes on settlements.

"It’s a slippery slope to say we’re going to make changes," Gaebler said.

Two settlements coming up

At least two high-dollar settlements could come before the council soon. One is from a lawsuit filed in February alleging that the city hasn’t complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a problem Colorado Springs has faced for decades. And a second could spring from a high-profile lawsuit filed in 2016 by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, demanding solutions to contaminated stormwater runoff affecting downstream communities.

Settlements exceeding $100,000 must be approved by the council.

At least one of the seven cases settled in recent years was not approved by the council, Massey said. Although that settlement was for $103,000, the figure was split between multiple people, and no payment exceeded $100,000, she said.

Another settlement totaling $180,000 might not have gone before the council because it followed an employee complaint, rather than a lawsuit.

Colorado Springs doesn’t always foot the entire bill for its settlements. Some are paid by the city’s enterprises, such as Colorado Springs Utilities or the Colorado Springs Airport.

Others are paid through insurance companies, though the city pays a deductible, Fabos said.

The 2015 lawsuit that resulted in a $2.5 million settlement this year for a dozen female police officers was paid by the city’s former insurance company, Starr Indemnity & Liability Company, Inc.

The city’s policy with Starr Indemnity ended in 2016 after the company quoted a nearly 40 percent premium increase and the city opted for a less expensive plan, Fabos said.

The city has paid a total of $927,896.13 in settlements since 2014, Fabos said.

Council members say they expect to discuss changes this week. And Knight said a code change could be completed in weeks, not months.

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Co-op workers say recluse left them $4M in will

“I was like the son he never had,” said Eddie Hoti, a 28-year veteran of the Sutton Place apartments. (Kevin C. Downs for New York Daily News)

Staffers at a Sutton Place co-op claim a reclusive resident wanted to leave them his $4 million estate — and that a mysterious letter found after his death bolsters their assertion, according to new court documents.

Nick Pocesta, a super at Sutton Manor Apartments on E. 56th St. near First Ave., claims longtime resident Stephan Evans handed him a bag of personal effects in May 2017 — when the ailing octogenarian was in an ambulance, papers recently filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court contend.

Evans’ nephew and only surviving blood relative, Michael Evans, went through the bag shortly after his 80-year-old uncle’s death last September.

The message, which is undated and couldn’t be verified by the Daily News, reads "Last Will of Stephen S. Evans."

It goes on to say Evans’ co-op, valued at $450,000, goes to Eddie Hoti, a longtime doorman, and instructs that the rest of his assets, including $3.3 million in Exxon Mobil stock and at least $421,000 in cash, be divided between Pocesta and eight other building employees, according to court papers.

"He’d get up pretty early in the morning, sit in the lobby and talk to Eddie for a few hours," said Bernard Dworkin, a building resident who represents the employees.

A judge decided Friday the note isn’t a valid will, Dworkin conceded — but allows another search of Stephen Evans’ apartment to see whether a formal document exists.

"If we don’t find a will before the next court date, it’s over for us," said Dworkin, who has asked the court for $50,000 from the estate to cover legal fees.

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As 10,000 teachers plan to descend on Colorado capitol, lawmakers propose jailing them if they go on strike

As thousands of Colorado school teachers get ready to descend on their state capitol this week to demand billions of dollars in education funding, lawmakers are proposing jailing them if they even consider going on strike.

The proposed law pitched by two Republican legislators threatens jail time for any educator caught "directly or indirectly inducing, instigating, encouraging, authorizing, ratifying, or participating in a strike against any public school employer."

Teachers hold placards during a rally outside the state Capitol, April 16, 2018, in Denver.

The jail term proposed by the prime sponsors of the bill, state Sen. Bob Gardner and Rep. Paul Lundeen, is six months.

"Clearly it’s an attempt to limit the voices of educators," Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, told ABC News. "All we want to do is talk to our elected representatives about funding our schools appropriately. And here are two Republican legislators who’ve come out with a bill that is a clear attack on public school teachers in the state."

Colorado teachers are poised to participate in a lobbying effort in Denver Thursday and Friday, prompting at least a dozen school districts in the state to cancel school.

Dallman said she expects "a couple thousand" teachers to gather at the state capitol on Thursday and "7,000-plus" on Friday.

She emphasized the "days of action" at the capitol is not a strike or even a mass teacher walkout. She said most of the teachers participating in the event will be using the two personal leave days they earn annually.

"The fact that they’re using one of their two personal days … is a pretty strong signal about how important this issue is," Dallman said.

Gardner told ABC News today that his bill would not prohibit actions like the one teachers are planning this week, and said it was "absurd" to say the proposal was intended to curb teachers’ voices.

Gardner stressed that the bill deals with strikes which persist in defiance of a court order — not the kind of protests teachers plan at the Capitol later this week. #copolitics #coleg #sb267 #context #context #context https://t.co/etlzLXVpBL

— Colorado Senate GOP (@ColoSenGOP) April 24, 2018

“It is not in any way an attempt to silence teachers’ voices. They have the right to assemble, protest, associate, demonstrate whatever they wish and I would defend their right to do that," Gardner said.

He said there has been widespread "misinformation" about his bill. He explained that teachers and education unions would only risk going to jail or being fined if they defy a court order forbidding them to strike.

"If this bill were to pass, they won’t be silenced. They simply will not be able to walk out of the classroom together collectively and leave the job and shut down schools depriving children of continuity in their education," he said.

He said the West Virginia teachers’ strike earlier this year prompted him to propose the legislation.

West Virginia teachers went on a nine-day strike that ended in March when the Republican governor there agreed to give all state workers a 5 percent pay raise. The labor action ignited a string of teacher protests in red states like Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona where the governors’ offices and state legislatures are dominated by Republicans.

Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, jokes with speakers during a rally outside the State Capitol, April 16, 2018, in Denver.

Arizona teachers voted last week to go on strike as early as Thursday in an effort to win a 20 percent pay hike.

Colorado is the exception. The state’s governor, John Hickenlooper, is a Democrat and Democrats hold a majority of seats in the State House.

The bill proposed by Gardner and Lundeen will likely not pass. In a tweet Monday, the Colorado Senate Democrats called the proposal "anti-worker trash."

This bill is anti-worker trash. Republicans would rather pay to throw teachers in jail than pay them to teach. #copolitics https://t.co/WXxhIUEyFO

— Colorado Senate Dems (@COSenDem) April 23, 2018

Dallman told ABC News that teachers in Colorado are frustrated that their efforts so far have not swayed lawmakers to adhere to Amendment 23, which was passed by voters in 2000 and requires the state to increase funding for education at the annual rate of inflation.

"We’ve had over nine years now of chronic underfunding of our schools," Dallman said. "We have lobbied over those nine years and we are fed up at this point. Obviously, those nine years of lobbying around education funding have not achieved the results that we think parents want and what public school educators want."

Elizabeth Garlick, a teacher at North Mor Elementary School in Northglenn, Colo., waves a placard during a rally outside the State Capitol, April 16, 2018, in Denver.

She said Colorado spends about $2,700 less than the national per-pupil average of about $12,000 a year.

Dallman said that over the last nine years, state lawmakers have underfunded education by $6.6 billion.

"This year alone it was $828 million," she said.

She went on, "So we want them to pay off that debt and adhere to Amendment 23 within the next four years. We want no new corporate tax breaks of any kind until we’re funding our schools at the national per-pupil average."

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Dranoff Properties sells Philadelphia apartment portfolio – Philadelphia Business Journal

Apartment Investment and Management Co. has picked up six apartment buildings from Dranoff Properties Inc. for $445 million.

The properties include: Locust on the Park in the Fitler Square neighborhood; 777 South Broad St., Southstar Lofts on South Broad Street, the Left Bank in University City, the Victor in Camden, N.J., and One Ardmore Place, a 110-unit apartment complex under construction in Ardmore.

In all, the portfolio is comprised of 1,006 units, the 110 units under development in Ardmore and 185,000 square feet of office and retail space. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter but for One Ardmore Place, which is expected to close during the first quarter of next year once completely constructed.

Apartment and Investment, known as AIMCO, is based in Denver and has had a presence in Philadelphia for years. It owns six properties in the city including Park Towne Place and the Sterling. In all, it owns 2,863 apartments in Philadelphia and the Dranoff acquisition brings that number up to 4,005. AIMCO (NYSE: AIV) has been looking for opportunities to expand its footprint in Philadelphia.

“We knew of Carl’s work and in the fall a mutual connection put us in touch,” said Wes Powell, executive vice president at AIMCO who led the acquisition team on this transaction. “The timing seemed right for them and the timing was right for us.”

Carl Dranoff started Dranoff Properties in 1997 and his first project was Locust on the Park, a $24 million conversion of the old National Book Publishing Co. building at 25th and Locust streets into 152 apartments. It opened in 1999 and was among the first projects to take advantage of the 10-year real estate tax abatement that initially focused on conversions but was later expanded to include new construction.

From that conversion, Dranoff moved onto University City, where few developers dared to venture, and spent $60 million converting the former 700,000-square-foot General Electric Building at 32nd and Walnut streets into the neighborhood’s first luxury apartment complex and called it the Left Bank. It has 282 apartments. Dranoff had entered into a long-term lease on the property with the University of Pennsylvania.

Dranoff was again pioneering when he turned to Camden’s Delaware River waterfront for a project called the Victor, which involved spending $60 million converting the old RCA Victor factory, a six-story, 550,000-square-foot building, into 340 apartments. He then turned his attention to South Broad Street, where he developed Symphony House, a condominium building, as well as 777 South Broad and Southstar Lofts. Most recently, Dranoff completed One Riverside, a high-end condominium building.

"My blood and brain is in all of these buildings," Dranoff told the Business Journal. "I think I’m one of the few developers who have maintained ownership with pride. I’m the builder, owner and manager. I’m probably a dinosaur."

Dranoff said he visited the properties today to inform his employees about the transaction. "I felt very personal about it," he said.

Dranoff said the properties weren’t up for sale though over the years he has had offers to sell part of the portfolio. He never wanted to break it up.

"This company came to me from left field and they made a compelling argument they would be good stewards for these properties," Dranoff said. "When AIMCO came around they said they were seeking this portfolio out because of what it was, because of the high quality and high customer service. The company already has a portfolio in Philadelphia and wanted to have a larger market share for the long run."

That appealed to Dranoff. The transaction, however, doesn’t mean the developer is retiring, which he said is a word not in his vocabulary. He is full-speed ahead on two projects along South Broad Street, is completing the first residential high-rise in Newark, N.J., in 60 years and looking for other opportunities.

"I’ve never been more excited," he said. "I’m giddy with excitement."

Though AIMCO has had a presence in Philadelphia for some time, it is encouraged by inroads made in job creation particularly with the city’s concentration of eds and meds, the improvement in the core of the city, its walkability and its general resurgence both in Center City and University City, Powell said. While Ardmore isn’t in Philadelphia, it fits into the company’s strategy of buying in markets that have high barriers to entry and located near transportation.

“We’re always on the look in all of our target markets and sometimes an opportunity arises that is a good fit,” he said.

Carl Dranoff started his company in 1997 and Locust on the Park at 25th and Locust streets in Philadelphia was his first project. From there, Dranoff ventured to Camden, N.J., and into condominium development.

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California’s housing crisis reaches from the homeless to the middle class — but it’s still almost impossible to fix

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council gave housing advocates a lesson in why solving the statewide crisis in housing availability looks impossible to fix.

"Pure insanity," declared Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents portions of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley. Councilman David Ryu, whose district includes Sherman Oaks, the Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz and the Wilshire Boulevard "Miracle Mile," said that by creating "a housing boom for a privileged few and eviction notices for everyone else," the bill would "uproot communities and destroy neighborhoods."

Somewhere along the way, California decided that adding enough new housing is a bad thing.

Those are strong words for a bill that is manifestly a work in progress and that already has been amended by its sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), to address local concerns. "What I asked of the L.A. City Council was to give us some space to work through issues in the bill," Wiener told me. "We have had an open door for constructive feedback."

But he’s plainly disconcerted by the intensity — indeed, the virtual unanimity — of the locally based opposition to SB 827. "Someone could write a case study about the truly odd coalition against this bill," he says. The critics include not only local politicians but community activists, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, some labor organizations, renters’ rights groups and even progressive healthcare advocates.

That’s remarkable for a bill that aims to bring down rents for low-income families, cut commuting times and pollution, and reduce overcrowding in residential units.

At least 30% of households in every part of California–and in some places 60%–can’t afford local rents. (McKinsey & Co.)

Somewhere along the way, Wiener says, "California decided that adding enough new housing is a bad thing."

Opponents of the bill say SB 827 would open too many stable communities to ill-controlled growth. "With one broad brush, it rezones the urban state of California based on where a bus line runs," says former Los Angeles City Councilman and county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who is currently director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.

There are many reasons for California’s failure to keep up with housing demand. One is the "incumbency effect" — existing residents are hostile to changes that might increase traffic, attract residents of lower income and different ethnicities, or produce other changes that could lower their property values. Existing residents who vote plainly have more clout with their elected officials than nonresidents waiting for a chance to move in.

The state used to produce as many as 300,000 new housing units a year, but in the last decade that pace has fallen to 100,000 — about half of what’s needed. (Department of Housing and Community Development)

Whatever the reasons for California’s housing shortage, the harvest is now coming in. The state will need anywhere from 1.8 million to 3.5 million new homes by 2025 to absorb existing demand and future population growth. But its current construction pace of fewer than 80,000 new homes per year falls short by 100,000 homes a year of meeting even the lowest estimate of demand.

And much of the construction is taking place inland, far from the coastal areas hosting most of the job growth. That combination increases urban sprawl, and only substitutes transportation costs for housing costs. In Stanislaus County, parts of which are bedroom communities for the San Francisco Bay Area, average annual housing costs are about $17,280, compared with the San Francisco average of $25,056, the state assessment says. But transportation costs for San Francisco residents average only $8,919, while those in Stanislaus average $13,519. It’s still cheaper to live near Modesto and commute, but the gap is narrow — not counting the time lost on the road.

Only inland counties such as Riverside and San Bernardino have been producing enough new housing to keep prices low, but coastal counties would need to build much more to prevent their home prices from growing faster than the national average. (Legislative Analysts Office)

"As affordability becomes more problematic, people ‘overpay’ for housing, ‘over-commute’ by driving long distances between home and work, and ‘overcrowd’ by sharing space to the point that quality of life is severely impacted," warned the California Department of Housing and Community Development in its most recent housing assessment, issued in February.

The crisis threatens to cut the state’s economic boom off at the knees. The housing shortage costs California $140 billion a year — the equivalent of 6% of gross state product — according to a 2016 calculation by McKinsey & Co. That doesn’t include business opportunities or expansions forgone or relocations instituted by employers because they can’t recruit or keep workers in the state’s high-cost housing environment.

The most visible sign of the crisis is homelessness. One single sampled night in January 2015, California had nearly 116,000 homeless people — 21% of the national total, despite having only 12% of the U.S. population.

Indeed, the deepest shortfall in housing is for families earning 50% of the regional median income or less, for whom 1.5 million more units are needed. (The applicable median income for a family of four in Los Angeles County is $64,800, and in San Francisco County $115,300.) But the shortages are creeping ever higher on the income scale. In 2016, according to the 2018 housing assessment of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the state faced a shortfall of more than a million units for households earning between 50% and 120% of the median wage; only for households earning 120% of the median or more was there even a modest surplus.

As a result, Calfornia home prices have risen much faster than in the rest of the country, fostering homelessness and threatening to brake economic growth. (LAO)

Subsidies and voucher programs exist to help low-income families spending more than 30% of their income on housing. But those programs are oversubscribed, and unlikely ever to be fully funded; providing housing assistance to all low-income Californians who don’t get it now would cost tens of billions of dollars, according to the state legislative analyst, making it the largest state expenditure outside of education.

The Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown took major steps last year to address the crisis, enacting a package of 15 bills that streamlined the permitting and environmental review process for new housing, gave developers more incentives for projects that include units for low-income residents, and took some authority away from local communities that hadn’t met housing demand yet still were blocking new developments.

Some of these measures already seem to have borne fruit. A development firm has applied to fast-track a 2,400-unit project at a dying retail mall in Cupertino, exploiting the measure allowing builders to circumvent local approvals if they’re fulfilling unmet demand with at least half their units designated for affordable housing. Although Cupertino is the headquarters of Apple, its average home price of $1.8 million places it out of reach for the vast majority of the company’s employees.

The only real solution to the state’s housing crisis is to build more housing, including market-rate units for middle-class or even higher-income residents. It’s often supposed that loosening restrictions on market-rate housing will foment gentrification of lower-income neighborhoods, leading to forced evictions of their residents, but experts say that’s a myth.

UCLA housing expert Paavo Monkkonen and two university colleagues have found little evidence that construction of market-rate and luxury apartments has cannibalized the supply of housing for low-income families. Of the 104 Los Angeles apartment projects built between 2014 and 2016 that they examined, 26 were built on vacant or nonresidential parcels. Almost all the buildings demolished were small single-family homes, meaning that the projects resulted in a big gain in available units, more than a fifth of which were affordable housing.

Wiener acknowledges that his bill may originally have defined transit corridors subject to higher-density development too loosely. His earlier amendments have strengthened controls on demolitions of existing housing and added more protection for occupants of rent-controlled units, including up to 42 months of rent if they’re displaced by new construction and the right to move into the new building at their old rent.

But he’s right to maintain that the ability of local authorities to block almost all new construction needs to be pared back if the housing crisis is to be solved. "Let’s be real," he says. "In education and healthcare, the state sets basic standards, and local control exists within those standards. Only in housing has the state abdicated its role. But housing is a statewide issue, and the approach of pure local control has driven us into the ditch."

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Navy’s new attack submarine named Colorado joins the fleet

The U.S. Navy’s newest attack submarine, the USS Colorado, joined the fleet Saturday in a ceremony at Connecticut’s Naval Submarine Base.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer says the submarine is a "marvel of technology and innovation." U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, said the people of Colorado are remarkably proud this submarine will silently protect the nation’s interests.

Annie Mabus, the daughter of former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, gave the order to bring the ship to life before the crew boarded the vessel at the end of the ceremony, which is a Navy tradition.

The 377-foot-long sub weighs about 7,800 tons submerged. It can fight submarines and surface ships, conduct surveillance and deliver Special Operations troops. It has two large tubes that can launch six Tomahawk missiles each.

It’s the first attack submarine where sailors use an Xbox gaming system controller to maneuver the photonics masts, which replaced periscopes, according to Cmdr. Reed Koepp, the Colorado’s commanding officer. Other submarines have joysticks.

Koepp leads 130 men. Women serve on submarines but they haven’t been assigned to the Colorado. One-fifth of submarine crews are integrated.

It took submarine supply businesses nationwide and thousands of shipyard employees in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia to build the Colorado, the 15th member of the Virginia class of submarines.

Attack submarines are built in a partnership between General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. They cost about $2.7 billion apiece.

Joseph Walsh, who oversees the Virginia-class program at Electric Boat, said building the Colorado over the past five years was an incredibly complex task that required a team effort between the shipbuilders, crew and the Navy.

It’s the fourth U.S. Navy ship named Colorado. Navy officials, politicians, shipbuilders, local community leaders and guests of the crew attended the ceremony.

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Hospitals offer big bonuses, free housing and college tuition to recruit nurses

Hospital operators like UCHealth are competing with each other to hire and retain qualified nurses.<… – UCHealth UCHealth has 330 job openings for registered nurses.<br /> – UCHealth The American Nurses Association estimates the U.S. will need to produce more than one million new re… – UCHealth Lacy Rusell said free housing was one of the reasons she applied for a job at WVU Medicine. – Lacy Russell / CNNMoney

a person standing in a room: Hospital operators like UCHealth are competing with each other to hire and retain qualified nurses.<br />

Amid a massive shortage of nurses, hospitals and other medical facilities are offering big hiring bonuses and other incentives to attract and retain talent.

Five-figure signing bonuses, free housing, college tuition for employees and their children.

Hospitals and other medical facilities are getting so desperate to recruit and retain nurses they’re offering all sorts of pricey perks and incentives.

"These are some of the grandiose examples we’ve heard from our members," said Seun Ross, director of nursing practice and work environment at the American Nurses Association."Who knows what employers will come up with next?"

America is undergoing a massive nursing shortage. Not only are experienced nurses retiring at a rapid clip, but there aren’t enough new nursing graduates to replenish the workforce, said Ross.

The nation’s aging population is exacerbating the problem. The American Nurses Association estimates the U.S. will need to produce more than one million new registered nurses by 2022 to fulfill the country’s health care needs.

UCHealth, which operates nine acute-care hospitals and more than 100 clinics across Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, currently has 330 openings for registered nurses. Since the nonprofit health system can’t find all the nurses it needs locally, it has been seeking out candidates from other states — and sometimes other countries.

To entice these new recruits, it has offered relocation allowances and signing bonuses of up to $10,000, said Kathy Howell, chief nursing executive for UCHealth.

UCHealth is trying to sweeten the pot in other ways, as well. It provides nurses with up to $4,000 a year to invest in continuing education. And it offers the Traveler RN program, which allows nurses to do a 13-week rotation at different UCHealth facilities.

Meanwhile, across the country, Inova Health System is offering candidates who have at least two years of critical care experience and live more than 50 miles from one of its six Washington, D.C.-area hospitals a $20,000 sign-on bonus and up to $20,000 in reimbursable relocation costs, said chief nursing officer Maureen E. Sintich. Candidates who live within 50 miles of one of Inova’s hiring hospitals are offered a $10,000 signing bonus.

This fall, West Virginia’s WVU Medicine, which operates eight hospitals in the state, will start offering tuition reimbursement for employees and their children.

"It’s for nurses and for all of our staff who’ve been here for five or more years. We’re also extending it for their children to fully cover their college tuition if they go to West Virginia University or partially cover tuition if they go elsewhere," said Mary Fanning, director of WVU Medicine Nursing Administration.

Related video: Medicaid cuts could shutter rural hospitals

WVU, which is currently looking to hire 200 nurses, also offers free housing to some of its nurses as part of its commuter program. The perks, it said, are aimed at both attracting new recruits and retaining existing staff.

Lacy Russell, 24, applied for a job as an intensive care unit nurse with WVU after she learned about the commuter program from a friend.

Under the program, nurses who live 60 to 90 miles away from WVU’s hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, are offered a free place to stay. Russell, who was hired in 2016, lives an hour and 20 minutes away from the hospital. She stays at the hospital-owned lodging during her shifts Friday through Sunday.

"I save so much on gas by not having to drive back and forth," she said. "I graduated from nursing school with $30,000 in student debt. So this really helps."

She plans to work at the hospital for at least a few more years and also take advantage of the tuition reimbursement at some point so she can continue to advance her training and skills.

Did you recently go to the emergency room and receive a big bill? Tell us about it here.

Bonuses and incentives may help, but hospitals have another big force working against them: The booming US economy.

Periods of economic upswing aren’t necessarily good for the nursing industry, said Susan Salka, CEO of AMN Healthcare, one of nation’s largest providers of medical staffing services.

"During economic downturns, nurses stay put in their jobs and attrition dips," she said. "When the economy is booming, attrition goes up. Nurses feel more comfortable pulling back on their hours or moving ahead with their retirement decision."

In two-income households, if their partner is doing well financially, some nurses feel comfortable dropping out of the workforce to take a break from a grueling job, said Salka.

The American Nurses Association’s Ross worries that rich bonuses and creative perks may not go far enough to retain nurses in the long run.

"What’s to stop nurses from accepting a job because of the perks and then hop to another hospital after two years because of their perks," she said.

A better approach would be to invest in improving the work environment for nurses and offering better pay, career development and hours to help make sure they don’t burn out, she said.

"All it takes is for one nurse to tell her friend that where she works is a great place for these reasons and applications will come in," Ross said.

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Staying Ahead in E-commerce

Are you on top of everything concerning your e-commerce business? When you’re spinning on the merry-go-round of the day to day operations you may be letting things slip by. New advances, impending dangers, and upcoming changes may not be pinging your radar.

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