| Howard's $10M win in arbitration sets new high-water mark
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Everywhere Ryan Howard turned, people wanted to dig into his pockets. Howard's bank account just skyrocketed like one of those home runs he deposits into the upper deck. Baseball's best bargain finally will be getting big bucks. Howard won his salary arbitration case against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday when he was awarded $10 million, the highest figure given a victorious player. Now teammates expect him to pay for their meals and pick up the tab on their nights out. "My reaction is mostly relief," Howard said. "It was an interesting process. Anyway you look at it, it's a win-win because it's a substantial raise." Howard made $900,000 last year and $355,000 during his MVP season in 2006. The Phillies offered $7 million, but Howard became the first player to win in six arbitration cases this season.
Leap Wireless Grows, Cuts Loss … and Shares Climb
Its 52-week range is $29.87 to $99.04. Leaps Nasdaq symbol is LEAP. For the full year, Leap had total revenue of $1.35 billion, up 46 percent from all of 2006 when it had $956.4 million in revenue. The net loss for the year was $75.9 million, compared to a net loss of $24.4 million in 2006. Citing Leaps gains when measured by operating income before depreciation and amortization, CEO Doug Hutcheson called 2007 a good year. Our 2007 results demonstrated the success of our growth initiatives and continuing customer acceptance of our unlimited value proposition, Hutcheson said. At the end of December, Leap said it had 2.86 million customers nationally, but expected to have 3 million by Feb. 28. The Cricket wireless service is offered in 23 states and holds licenses in 35 of the top 50 national markets.
ABQ remodelers honored at banquet
The Remodelers Council of the Home Builders Association of Central New Mexico gave out 27 awards to Albuquerque metro area remodelers on Thursday. The annual Excellence in Remodeling Awards, held this year at the Marriott Pyramid North in Albuquerque, recognizes residential remodelers for excellence in the areas of design, craftsmanship and skill. The two top honors, Grand Award-Design and Grand Award-Build, went to Remodel Inc. for Medium Kitchen Design and There's No Place Like Home for Large Kitchen Remodel, respectively. There's No Place Like Home took a total of 13 awards. Other winners included PSI Remodeling, Jade Enterprises, Pennington Builders and The Branch. "These remodelers are among the best of what central New Mexico has to offer," said Jim Folkman, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association.
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