Erlanger nets $6 million for new children’s MRI center
Erlanger Health System will begin in January building a new pediatric outpatient MRI and procedure center at the Children’s Hospital at the Erlanger Kennedy Outpatient Center after the hospital said Wednesday it met its $6 million fundraising goal for the project.
Although it was canceled and changed to a virtual format, proceeds from the 2021 Believe Bash helped to complete and exceed the campaign goal.
“We are blessed to live in a community that values children, their health and their unique needs, and for the translation of that value into actionable, philanthropic giving, filling the gaps and ensuring better outcomes for our children,” said Julie Taylor, president of theErlanger Health System Foundation. “We continue to be astounded by the generosity of the region.”
Merrianne Kennedy, Erlanger’s senior director of radiology, said the new facility is uniquely designed to feature bright colors, fun designs and inviting environments to change the perception of the hospital environment for children.
Cleveland State aids freight hub database
In a multi-state collaboration, Cleveland State Community College will support Thrive Regional Partnership and Georgia Tech in the development of the Greater Chattanooga Freight Hub database.
The hub is an open source database to understand freight capacity and explore multimodal freight transportation in the tri-state region.
“This collaboration truly reflects the value of approaching a challenge across boundaries,” said Bridgett Massengill, CEO of Thrive Regional Partnership in Chattanooga.
The collaboration is concurrent with the development of a logistics and supply chain management degree program at Cleveland State. It’s designed to connect students of the region to career opportunities in the transportation industry. Under the project leadership of Thrive and Georgia Tech, a student data technician from Cleveland State Community College will support the creation and maintenance of the hub, officials said.
Cleveland State President Dr. William Seymour said the effort will benefit local industry through the creation of the hub while providing a much-needed logistics and supply chain management program.
Open captioning added at 240 AMC theaters
AMC Entertainment, the largest movie theater chain in the world, will offer open captioning at 240 U.S. locations, a move that the company’s CEO described as “a real advance for those with hearing difficulties or where English is a second language.”
Movie theaters provide closed captioning through devices that some customers describe as inconvenient and prone to malfunctioning. Open captions, however, are displayed on the screen in a way similar to subtitles; everyone in the theater sees the same captions, on the same screen.
Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing have long sought more and higher-quality captioning, but theater owners worry that people who aren’t deaf simply don’t like seeing captions at the movies.
“In some cases, putting open captions on the screen diminishes ticket sales for the movie,” said John Fithian, the president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, although he noted that the evidence was mostly anecdotal.
“The fact that a large national chain has had a change of heart is significant, and may even open the floodgates for others to follow suit,” said Christian Vogler, a professor at Gallaudet University, a school in Washington that serves the deaf.
CSX rail earnings rise 34% in quarter
CSX Corp. (CSX) on Wednesday reported third-quarter net income of $968 million, or 43 cents per share, up from the $736 million, or 32 cents per share the company earned in the third quarter of 2020.
Third quarter 2021 operating ratio was 56.4% compared to 56.9% in the prior year period.
“I want to thank all of CSX’s railroaders for their continued dedication to our customers amidst the combination of ongoing supply chain disruptions and challenges presented by the COVID-19 Delta variant this quarter” said James M. Foote, CSX chief executive officer. “We are committed to helping our customers overcome current supply chain constraints and will continue to take action in order to keep our network fluid and design new solutions that enable the delivery of critical goods to millions of Americans.”
Revenue for the third quarter increased 24 percent from the prior year to $3.29 billion,
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 38 cents per share.
– Compiled by Dave Flessner