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9/28/2012
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$2.00/OCTOBER 1 - 7, 2012
VOL. 33, NO. 38
Budget cuts could send NASA reeling
“(Patients) want to see someone who will make them smile and make them feel like they care, and the military gave me those good people skills.” – Antwon Peterson (below), patient services representative, Cleveland Clinic
Contractors, key services likely would be slashed if sequestration takes effect By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
MARC GOLUB
HEROIC EFFORTS Health care providers on a mission to recruit veterans, whose skill sets serve key employment needs By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
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ntwon Peterson’s eight-year stint with the U.S. Navy exposed him to all walks of life and taught him how, as he characterized it, to “get the job done, get it done right and ask questions later.” With his days on the high seas now behind him, Mr. Peterson for the last year has put those lessons to work on the front lines of the Cleveland Clinic’s bustling emergency department, serving as the first point of contact for patients seeking immediate care. “I work in the ER, so I get all kinds of patients with different situations and different problems that need help,” Mr. Peterson said. “They want to see someone who will make them smile and make them feel like they care, and the military gave me those good people skills.” Mr. Peterson is just the type of worker local health care leaders have in mind — disciplined. As such, the Clinic and other local health care providers are making a concerted effort to recruit veterans.
See NASA Page 11
Offer for American Greetings sets up debate over fair value By MARK DODOSH mdodosh@crain.com
ANALYSIS
Is the Weiss family’s offer to take American Greetings Corp. private a good deal for shareholders who aren’t descendants of the company’s founder, Jacob Sapirstein? That’s the central question a special committee of independent directors on the American Greetings’ board will consider in coming weeks.
Based on the movement of American Greetings’ stock price over the last 10 years, the proposal by the Weiss family and related parties to buy the shares they don’t already own in the nation’s No. 2 greeting card company could be seen as opportunistic timing. However, costly business challenges that are likely See OFFER Page 19
INSIDE Law firms capitalize on pipeline of work The shale industry has been a boon to stakeholders, including local law firms, which have formed shale-centered practice groups or have bolstered their oil and gas practices. But is there enough work to sustain them? PAGE 13.
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See VETERANS Page 22
NASA Glenn Research Center could lose more than 10% of its budget if the federal government falls off the “fiscal cliff.” NASA Glenn would need to cut roughly $70 million from its budget during fiscal 2013 — which begins today, Oct. 1 — if the government by the end of the current calendar year fails to pass a plan to cut the federal budget deficit. That failure would trigger massive, automatic spending cuts, according to two officials with the union representing the research center’s engineers and scientists. They cited an estimate center director Ramon Lugo III gave during a recent meeting that was broadcast
to all NASA Glenn employees. Cutting $70 million from NASA Glenn’s budget — which was in the range of $650 million during fiscal 2012 — would have a “devastating” effect on the center, according to an email from Sheila Bailey, an executive with the Lewis Engineers and Scientists Association. Cuts of that magnitude would be “almost inconceivable,” said Paul Greenberg, area vice president with the union. Drs. Bailey and Greenberg both said the timing of the automatic cuts would compound the problem: The entire $70 million would need to be cut during the final three quarters of fiscal 2013. “It’s hard to even get your arms around how you would absorb
2012 Nominees see page 9 Announced