What Alabama's economy could gain from inclusion of undocumented immigrants

Many states, including Alabama, have taken up arms against President Obama’s now postponed executive actions aimed at opening the door for an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants.

Recent data from The Pew Research Center said 0.6 percent of Alabama’s population would be eligible for inclusion under the president’s plan, but the state continues to fight the issue. As of 2010, Alabama’s population of undocumented immigrants was around 120,000 and has grown since.

Led by Texas, states like…

The oil price downturn will hit these Houston jobs the hardest

Certainly low oil prices have hit Houston oil and gas jobs, but not all jobs are created equal. There are certain levels and functions within the broadly affected sectors that are more at risk than others, according to a recent metro-area forecast from the University of Houston.

“Right at the top of the list, you have oil producers and oilfield services,” said Bill Gilmer, director at the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business. But it’s not just…

Foreclosed Racine Kmart sells for $2.5 million

A foreclosed Kmart store in Racine has sold for $2.5 million to a Florida property group.

According to state records, a limited liability company purchased the nearly 26-acre property at 2211 S. Green Bay Road from its New York owner through a sheriff’s foreclosure sale.

The seller was High Ridge Improvements, a limited liability company registered to the address of New York’s DLC Management Corp. The buyer is registered under the address of LNR Property LLC, a real estate investment, finance,…

EXCLUSIVE: $17 million hospital coming to Norwood

One of the last available parcels of land along the Norwood Lateral will become home to a $17 million inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Sanders Trust, a developer of medical office buildings, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and specialty hospitals, is developing a 40-bed facility for Reliant Hospital Partners, which will lease the building and provide the inpatient rehab services.

The 50,000-square-foot Norwood Rehabilitation Hospital will take 11 months to build and is expected to open in…

Oilfield services company to cut 1,000 jobs

Archer Ltd., a Bermuda-based company that has its U.S. operations in Houston, plans to cut 11 percent of its global workforce.

That’s about 1,000 positions, the oilfield services company said in its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings report. Archer employed about 8,800 people as of Dec. 31, 2014.

Archer cited the reduction in activity and demand for its services as the reason for the cuts. The company saw the biggest reduction in the U.S. land market, as well as the North Sea.

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