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Homebuilders face many challenges to turn a profit in the current housing market: higher labor costs, potentially rising interest rates, reduced land supply and softening buyer demand. While many costs are outside the control of builders, one way they can control expenses is through improved construction efficiency, especially in structural framing. A home's structural frame accounts for one of the largest parts of construction costs, and more builders are looking for dealers with design tools, equipment and expertise to help them get the most for their framing dollar. iLevel by Weyerhaeuser introduces iLevel NextPhase site solutions, a range of products, proprietary software, and services that allow builders to walk into dealer locations with architectural plans and walk out with an integrated framing solution.
Gasoline tax revenues that fund road building aren't keeping up with rising construction costs and increasing needs, so state transportation officials are scrambling to find new financing methods. They are looking at new taxes and fees, and at toll roads. Some states, like Indiana, have gone further, leasing toll roads to the private sector. In Missouri, the gas tax has been stuck at 17 cents a gallon since 1996 because voters in recent years have rejected tax increases for highways. State-run toll roads are constitutionally prohibited. So the Department of Transportation now is asking private contractors to finance a massive bridge construction program. No state ever has undertaken a construction initiative quite like it, transportation experts say.
July 15: Fire and "small explosion" cause no injuries at Goex black powder facility at the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, now used for military and commercial operations.
Aug. 15: Explosion and fire at Valentec Systems Inc., destroys about 75,000 square feet of the manufacturing facility where 40mm flares are produced.
Aug. 24: A series of explosions rock Explo Systems Inc., leading to highway closures and the evacuation of residents and schools in nearby Doyline. The company's facility, where bombs are disassembled and recycled, was essentially leveled. .
This week candidates for the library board were asked to address the issue of the renovation/expansion of the Main Library building. Each week the order of their answers will rotate so that each will have an opportunity to be near the beginning of the article. These are the questions we asked: Imagine that you have been elected to the board and also are chosen to be the chairperson of the building committee. What would your first steps be? What do you consider a reasonable timetable for having a plan ready for a referendum? What are your thoughts about extra expenditures for maintaining the building in the interim? What do you see as one essential component of a renovated building? Which components do you see as negotiable? What would your recommendation be for the issue of closing the building during a renovation? Andrew Greene and Jonathan Kahn are vying for one seat.
It's difficult to make exact comparisons among baseball parks, but if Billings voters approve a $12.5 million bond issue to replace Cobb Field, the Mustangs apparently will have the most expensive field in the Pioneer Baseball League.Cobb Field is also one of the most heavily used fields in the league, since it is home not only to the Mustangs but to the Montana State University-Billings Yellowjackets and two American Legion teams, the Billings Scarlets and Royals. Mustangs General Manager Gary Roller said 170 to 180 games a summer are played at Cobb Field, sometimes as many as four Legion games a day.The second-most expensive field in the Pioneer League would be the one in Missoula, home to the Osprey. That ballpark, which is still under construction, has had a checkered history. When Play Ball Missoula formed in 1998, hoping to raise private money for the new park, it was thought the project could be completed for less than $5 million.But there were numerous complications, ever-escalating costs and a lawsuit that was filed over the use of some public funds for the park.
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