U.S. Chamber, Business Groups File Lawsuit to Stop NLRB’s ‘Ambush Elections’ Rule; Scott Walker chosen as President/CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce in Indiana; Rosell takes over as board chairman of Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce; Chamber issue: Kentucky broadband expansion begins; Quad City chamber honored for development work; Domtar, Wisconsin Rapids Chamber receive grant dollars; Chamber news: Sioux Falls will keep growing, building in 2015; Chamber hosts: Multi-chamber Conference on coalfield economy set for Friday; Chamber hosts: January is rally time in Deadwood - for the sledders; Jackson County Chamber Spotlight: Industrial, commercial, residential electrical items found at Wholesale Electric Supply

U.S. Chamber, Business Groups File Lawsuit to Stop NLRB’s ‘Ambush Elections’ Rule

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, and Society for Human Resource Management, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from moving forward with its “ambush elections” rule. The rule significantly shortens the period between the time the union files a request for an election with the Board and the time the election is to be held, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“The NLRB’s rule drastically accelerates the union election process, depriving employers of their right to explain to employees the impacts of unionizing,” said Randy Johnson, the Chamber’s senior vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits. “Furthermore, we question the need for the regulation given that 95 percent of all elections are now conducted within two months and that unions win more than two-thirds of them.” Read more: The Financial

Scott Walker chosen as President/CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce in Indiana

Scott Walker, 44, has been chosen to become president and chief executive officer of Greater Lafayette Commerce, the local economic development group. Currently serving as CEO of Midland Tomorrow in Midland, Mich., he begins his Indiana post on January 5, 2015.

            “Greater Lafayette Commerce is a very successful and well-run organization with a great team in place,” Walker said. “The community has a robust economy and fabulous quality of life. My goal is to help the team build on the years of success they’ve already had. I will be the leader the organization needs me to be.”

            In his post, he will oversee a staff of 15, four of them part-time, hundreds of volunteers and several councils. They include the Chamber, Downtown Development, Economic and Community Development, Quality of Life and Workforce Development councils. Others operating under the Greater Lafayette Commerce umbrella are Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association, MatchBOX Coworking Studio, SCORE and business networks. Read more: Greater Lafayette Commerce

Rosell takes over as board chairman of Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article5443344.html#storylink=cpy

The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce introduced its 2015 board chairman and chair-elect at a recent board meeting.
Jon Rosell, executive director of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, is the board chairman. Barry Schwan, owner of House of Schwan, will serve as the chair-elect.
Other officers and executive committee members include: Wayne Chambers, immediate past chair, High Touch Technologies; Scott Schwindaman, first vice chair and business services vice chair, Lubrication Engineers; Mark Tucker, treasurer, Cox Business; Gary Plummer, president and CEO, Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce; Walter Berry, advocacy vice chair, Berry Cos.; Jeff Fluhr, communications vice chair, Wichita Downtown Development Corp.; Shelly Prichard, community advancement vice chair, Wichita Community Foundation; Gary Schmitt, economic development vice chair, Intrust Bank; Rod Young, leadership vice chair, Professional Engineering Consultants; Michael Monteferrante, membership vice chair, Envision; Martha Linsner, special events vice chair, TCK – The Trust Company of Kansas; and Laura Bernstorf, Young Professionals of Wichita Board vice chair, Airbus Americas Engineering. Read more: The Wichita Eagle

Chamber issue: Kentucky broadband expansion begins

Congressman Hal Rogers and Governor Steve Beshear announced last week that statewide broadband expansion has taken its first physical strides in becoming a reality.
A public-private partnership has been formed between the state and Macquarie Capital, a tech team that will be developing the fiber “backbone” infrastructure for the high-speed Internet. It is expected to be operational in two years.
The vision for statewide broadband connectivity is part of the Shaping Our Appalachian Region initiative spearheaded by Rogers that met for its kickoff summit last December. Ashland Mayor Chuck Charles attended the summit in Pikeville and has advocated for broadband expansion ever since. He said during a breakout session, he remembered a lady who worked for Microsoft speaking up about how she can work from home using her technology. Because she loves to rock climb, she said she wanted to live in eastern Kentucky, but could not do so because of poor Internet speeds. Kentucky currently ranks 46th in the U.S. for broadband availability, and 23 percent of rural areas in Kentucky do not have access to broadband at all, according to the release. Because of this, Charles said he encourages the city of Ashland to advocate for the initiative along with him, in order to give the area a new type of economic advantage. Tim Gibbs, president of the Ashland Alliance, Greenup and Boyd counties’ chamber of commerce, said improving Kentucky’s Internet connectivity is equally important to developing other types of infrastructure, like roads. Read more: Daily Independent

Quad City chamber honored for development work

The Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce and some of its staff have earned awards and designations for work related to business growth.
The awards include:

• In the Mid-America Economic Development Council's annual economic development awards, the chamber won third place in the council's Business Retention & Expansion award category for its Business Connections program. The council is a 10-state association aimed at providing resources in education, networking and best practices. 

Through Business Connections, the chamber conducts about 150 one-on-one interviews annually with local businesses. Read more: Quad City Business Journal

Domtar, Wisconsin Rapids Chamber receive grant dollars

Together, the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and Domtar Corp. are to receive more than $300,000 in worker training grants from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.The grants are part of Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin Fast Forward $15 million grant initiative, which was proposed in 2013...
Domtar Corp. alone received $278,342 in grant money, while the Chamber of Commerce received $16,471. Read more: Wisconsin Rapids Tribune

Chamber news: Sioux Falls will keep growing, building in 2015

Sioux Falls set a record for building activity in 2013 that few thought would be beat in 2014.
But earlier in December, the mark fell as the city surpassed $611 million in building permits.
No one is predicting a third record year, although many say big opportunities could come together.
"We're close on some very big deals, but close doesn't count," said Slater Barr, president of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. "You have to actually get them across the goal line, but I'm very cautiously optimistic 2015 could be huge." Read more: Argus Leader

Chamber hosts: Multi-chamber Conference on coalfield economy set for Friday

State and federal lawmakers have been invited to attend a conference Friday on the economy of the coalfield region of Virginia.
The session gets underway Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium in Garden Hall of the Appalachian College of Pharmacy in Oakwood in Buchanan County. The conference is being hosted by the Appalachian College of Pharmacy, the Buchanan County Chamber of Commerce, the Richlands Area Chamber of Commerce, the Scott County Chamber of Commerce, the Dickenson County Chamber of Commerce and the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority. Read more: Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Chamber hosts: January is rally time in Deadwood - for the sledders

Snowmobile rally will take place in conjunction with the SnoCross Shootout - Snowmobiling enthusiasts from across the Midwest and the West are expected to converge on Deadwood Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 for the first Deadwood Snowmobile Rally.The rally will be held in conjunction with the ISOC Deadwood SnoCross Shootout at the Days of ‘76 Rodeo Grounds.The Deadwood ISOC Shootout, which will be Jan. 30-31 this year, was named event of the year for the 2013-14 ISOC Amsoil Series.

“We’ve always loved a good rally, and the Snocross Shootout has been a great success in the two years we’ve hosted it,” said Lee Harstad, executive director of the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau. “This year we’re inviting everyone who loves riding as much as watching the SnoCross racing action to come early, stay late and enjoy the 350 miles of scenic Black Hills snowmobile trails.” See more: KOTA TV

Jackson County Chamber Spotlight: Industrial, commercial, residential electrical items found at Wholesale Electric Supply

Why did you go into business?
Wholesale Electric Supply was founded in 1949, by Clyde G. Rutland and his wife Marge. The Pascagoula branch is the 13th facility in the United States and is part of our global network including locations in Australia, Canada and Japan. Today the business is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Rutland's daughter, Pam McKellop, and continues traditions that Clyde Rutland started and continued for 62 years. Rutland stared with a lighting showroom and also sold appliances, fans and anything else a customer wanted and did the deliveries himself. The branch in Pascagoula allows Wholesale Electric Supply Co. of Houston, Inc. to offer a large inventory to the local area. We are able to meet the demands of customers in our community by providing a consistent stock of specialized items and assigned inventory so that they can meet the needs of their customers to complete their own jobs.      What do you offer your customers?  Read more: gulflive.com