Chamber is finalist for national award

The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, the 2009 Chamber of the Year, is one of four finalists nationwide for the American Chamber of Commerce Executive’s 2016 Chamber of the Year.

This is the third time in three years that the chamber has been invited to apply for Chamber of the Year and the second time in as many years that the chamber has been named a national finalist.

Chamber of the Year is the nation’s only award recognizing the dual role chambers have in leading businesses and communities. Chambers honored with the award demonstrate organizational strength and have an impact on key community priorities such as education, transportation, business development and quality of life, according to the award’s parameters.

Award winners will be announced at the ACCE convention Aug. 9-12 in Savannah, Ga.

  

The Medical Center EMS earns award

The Medical Center Emergency Medical System received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold Award for implementing quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who experience severe heart attacks.

Each year, more than 250,000 people experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction, the most deadly type of heart attack caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment. To prevent death, it’s critical to restore blood flow as quickly as possible, either by mechanically opening the blocked vessel or by providing clot-busting medication, The Medical Center said in a news release.

Agencies that receive the award have demonstrated at least 75 percent compliance for each required achievement measure for two years.

Chamber helps state secure award

Area Development magazine selected Kentucky as the winner of the 11th annual Silver Shovel Award in the 3 million to 5 million population category. Bowling Green received a special nod for having three of the top 10 economic development projects in Kentucky in 2015.

Five of Kentucky’s 10 largest projects were in the 10-county Southcentral Kentucky region.

Area Development’s annual Silver Shovel Awards honor states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities.

Ron Bunch, president and chief executive officer of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, said 2015 was an outstanding year.

“We more than doubled the number of announced expansion jobs from 2014, we surpassed investment numbers of any year in the last decade and the $943.7 million invested in 2015 was 41/2 times that of our second-largest investment year in the last 10 years. Bowling Green’s three projects made up about one-third of the $2.8 billion invested by Kentucky’s top 10 economic development projects in 2015,” Bunch said.

The following Warren County projects were essential to securing Kentucky’s 2016 Silver Shovel Award: a $439 million custom paint shop expansion at the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant; Bowling Green Metalforming’s $261 million expansion creating 450 jobs; and Kobe Aluminum’s $57 million expansion creating 112 jobs. These projects were ranked second, third and 10th, respectively, in investment out of all economic development projects in Kentucky and made up 80 percent of all capital investment in Warren County for 2015.

This year, the Bowling Green commerce has announced four projects totaling $65.7 million in capital investment and 170 new jobs.

‘Lost River Sessions’ earns Emmy nods

WKU PBS, Western Kentucky University’s public television service, was nominated for three awards in three categories for the 52nd annual Ohio Valley Emmy Awards. Recipients will be announced during an Aug. 6 ceremony in Lawrenceburg, Ind.

Darius Barati and James Pearson were recognized in multiple categories for work they did on the WKU PBS music series “Lost River Sessions.” Barati and Pearson co-produced the series.

Mark Toon began as a student crew member for “Lost River Sessions.” He eventually became more involved with the program and served as an episode producer for two of the programs.

WKU PBS received the following nominations: Arts/entertainment program: “Lost River Sessions,” Barati, Pearson and Toon; audio: “Lost River Sessions,” Pearson; and lighting: “Lost River Sessions,” Barati.

Investment option awaits SEC approval

A new consumer discretionary fund engineered by Bowling Green’s David Bolton’s is moving toward going public.

The whiskey and bourbon economy-focused fund under the wing of ETF Managers Group – the firm behind last year’s Restaurant ETF – called Spirited Funds ETFMG Bourbon & Whiskey Economy ETF will cover 20 companies involved in every step in the process, from producing the crops used to make the beverages to their actual consumption.

Companies basically fall into six buckets, according to the prospectus: Those that produce whiskey or bourbon; those that provide the ingredients used in the process from initial production, through distillation, aging and storage; those that raise, manage and harvest the crops involved in the process; those involved in the management of byproducts of the whiskey and bourbon production process; those involved in distribution, sales and marketing of whiskey and bourbon; and those involved in the consumption of bourbon or whiskey.

To be eligible to be a component, a company must have at least $250 million in market capitalization. Company weightings are based on a firm’s revenues from its bourbon- and whiskey-related revenues and the growth rate of its involvement in the whiskey and bourbon economy. Distillers will have a weighting between 50 and 95 percent in the index, while distributors and suppliers comprise between 5 and 50 percent of the index, the prospectus said.

The new investment entity awaits approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Atmos Energy unveils new website

Atmos Energy unveiled a new website and upgraded the online account center for more than 3 million customers in Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

The website has a more appealing design, easier navigation and is mobile-optimized to better serve our customers, the company said in a news release.

Customers have new self-service options, including appointment booking for new service and reconnections, payment deferral, installment plans and opt-in for service order notification. The new website is at AtmosEnergy.com.