etricities.com

Thank you Mr Rocky Top for telling us about this:

I was certainly very happy to hear that our great state would soon be the new North American headquarters for Nissan; this means more jobs for our hard-working people and a better image among corporate America. I’m not sure, though, if the incentive package awarded to Nissan by the state is worth it; our government will be paying $200 million for the company to relocate to mid-state! This amount, however, is extended over 20 years so maybe its not too bad. This relocation better prove itself in the future! This investment by the state better bring great jobs to Tennessee (more than the thousand so that Nissan will bring).
Read More…

From VOLuntarilyConservative
No, this isn’t breaking news or an earth-shattering investigation, but it is noteworthy. As reported by the Johnson City Press, the Golden Corral restaurant in JC hosted many veterans as part of its Military Appreciation Night yesterday. The vets that participated were treated to a free buffet at the restaurant my Dad affectionately calls “the hog trough.”

It’s great to see businesses giving back to those who have served and allow for those of us in the United States to enjoy our everyday lives.

Does anyone else know if other downtown associations in the area are doing something like this?

From Kingsport!
Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner. We all have holiday shopping to do and meals to prepare. Learn how you can prepare for the holidays and support the local business in our area.

On Weds. Nov. 16th, the Washington County Public Library will feature a showcase of local goods and services. Susan Howard, a member of the Downtown Merchants Association will share information about upcoming promotions planned by their group. Activities similar to last year’s month long campaign called Come Home Begins at Home will highlight products and promotions being conducted by our locally owned businesses.

Roy Settle, coordinator for the Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council promotes local products and services as well as conservation. He will showcase produces and services available in southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. The website http://www.localgoods.org/ provides a preview of the items that will be featured.

Anthony Flaccavento, Executive Director of Appalachian Sustainable Development, is involved with the local Farmer’s Market on Wednesday and Saturday in the Municipal parking lot and works with their Appalachian Harvest program to ensure that local merchants carry products grown organically by local farmers. Mr. Flaccavento will also provide information about the Sustainable Wood project that encourages local processing of forest products.

There will also be a discussion about the diversity and vitality of our local economy and the importance of supporting home-grown products and services. Please plan to be attend and become involved in helping the local business community grow and prosper. Locale products will be available to sample The program is free and open to the public.
Call 676-6298 for details.

Washington County Public Library
205 Oak Hill Street
Abingdon, VA 24210

Contact:
Will Stein
(276) 676-6298
wstein@wcpl.net

Be sure to support your local Sprint-Nextel strikers! If you are from the Tri-Cities and a few other areas on the East Coast, you might have heard that Sprint workers have gone on strike. I want everyone to not misunderstand the situation. Don’t think that these workers are lazy or just want to cause problems; these hard-working people are just the opposite. These employees have worked hard everyday for this billion-dollar corporation. After their labor and dedication, the company decides that the employees do not deserve the benefits that they have worked so hard for and was included in the contract that just expired. The union of workers, however, do not want the contract changed at all; they don’t want anything extra. Sprint, on the other hand, wants to replace retiring workers with contractors, cut contributions to 401(k) retirement plans, eliminate extra pay for work on Sundays, and shorten the length of short-term disability. Myself, I think these are benefits that should be expected from any company! These employees deserve respect for their hard work; they shouldn’t have to bargain away what they have rightfully earned! My mother happens to work for Sprint and has done so for around 30 years. I know first hand that this disrespect from Sprint is not a sudden occurrence; for years, the company has been treating their employees with dishonor. Every three years that the contract has to be renewed, the union is always on the verge of striking before a last minute deal falls through. These employees, however, continue to work hard despite the disrespect that they have been receiving for a few years now. The company has become more focused on profits and less on customer and employee satisfaction. If you see a Sprint employee on strike, support them in any way that you can. All they are doing is trying to gain the respect that they have spent many years working hard to earn. And if you are a contractor, please don’t cross the picket line; respect them and their cause. If you would like to send a message of support, you can contact the CWA at jmiller(at)cwa-union(dot)org. To send a message to Sprint-Nextel, investorrelations.sprintcom@mail.sprint.com. If you would like to help with the strike, you are more welcome to join them at the picket line; I did last weekend. (story here, union info here, Sprint-Nextel here)

Richmond, Virginia, October 28, 2005 - Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner today announced that CGI-AMS Inc., the wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI Group Inc. (NYSE: GIB, TSX: GIB.SV.A), will invest US$6 million to open a software development and systems integration facility in Russell County’s Russell Regional Business Technology Park. CGI-AMS provides information technology (IT) services to the government and private sector, and will create 300 new jobs within 30 months.

“This is an unprecedented announcement for the coalfield region,” said Governor Warner. “CGI-AMS is offering the kind of jobs that will truly transform the region’s economy. The company will bring 300 jobs that provide above average wages and great benefits to qualified employees who are ready to work. I congratulate everyone involved in bringing this outstanding project to the Commonwealth. In terms of salaries and number of jobs, it’s the best announcement in a decade for Russell County.”
Read More…

Posts that is. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. etricities.com, not even two months old, has already seen a great response from those who have found us. Our stats are showing that we have a small but loyal readership already. etricities.com is still a growing concept. We are always open to new ideas that can help us better serve our community.

We have many new and exciting ideas that we are working on and we can’t wait to implement and share these with you.

The TechCast Network would like to thank all those who helped us thus far. Just stick with us. You guys will be happy with the changes.

First off, let us start with our newest show that hasn’t had much of chance to start yet: Gamer’s Domain. Well, don’t you get so flustered! We already have a new host and plenty of content to go around since we get into an argument about anything and everything. Secondly, this will be renamed from Gamer’s Domain to Get in the Game, or GiG. This will be put into an entirely different feed.

Nextly, we all know you are just dieing to know what is going on with The Mink Report, our flagship show… Well, there isnt much, but in other terms, quite a bit. First off, we would like to say thank you for our 1100 + downloads! Nextly, the key to a good podcast is listener interaction, which we plan to do great amount of. We will begin to have at least 3 long (30-40 minutes) shows a month and 1 5 or 6 minute long show. We also would like at least one guest host a month. Feel free to contact us if you would like more information! This will also be moved to another feed. Question of the week, tech help, relationship help, we have it. Not to mention our snazzy new name, Tech Tonight!

When will these changes happen? Friday. Be prepared. Be prepared REAALLL good.

For a while after the name changes, we will have all shows hosted at feeds.feedburner.com/TheMinkReport. Do not worry, we’ll give you at least 72 hours heads up before we change. If you miss the annoucnement, check here at techcastnetwork.blogspot.com! If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact us at techcastnet@gmail.com! And now to have one of those strange ‘about’ things all companies attach to their press releases =P.

ABOUT TECHCAST NETWORK
The TechCast Network is a PodCast Network in the constantly growing technology genre. The TechCast Network Strives to bring the listener up to date news, the newest games, and much more. Launched in July 2005, Tech Cast Network has reached over 1000 downloads, most of which comes from the flagship show, The Mink Report. The station is headquarted in East Tennessee. For more information, go to http://techcastnetwork.blogspot.com.