In the past I’ve covered education, government and health, industries that take out ads, but not as many as local and national businesses do. I never had much contact with an ad department before I took on this beat.
Newspaper offices always separate the departments, and at the Journal we’re even on different floors. We’re separate physically and functionally.
That said, the fact that we have several advertising representatives talking daily to dozens of local businesses does mean several people at the paper besides me are hearing about new businesses and business news, whether a relocation or closure or whatever.
Once or twice a week I get an e-mail or voice mail from one of our advertising representatives letting me know about some piece of news. Their tips are very helpful to me, in the same way that tips from this blog and from our readers in general are very helpful. But they are just suggestions. My editors and I together decide what we cover and how.
Another ethical issue that comes up a little more often on the business beat than it has in the past for me is how to handle it when someone I’m writing about offers me something for free. Most people who do this aren’t trying to curry an advantage, they’re just being helpful. For example today I’m writing a story about a guy who tests homes for heat leakage. He offered to come to my home to demonstrate how it works. He was just trying to be helpful, but I told him I couldn’t accept. Instead we are going to his office to see how the equipment works.
Also recently the folks at Golden West invited me to their office for lunch to learn about their business. They knew our ethics policy addresses meals, so they said I could pay for lunch myself. So I wrote them a check to cover the cost of my Jimmy John’s. It was under $10, which our ethics policy actually allows me to accept, but I had no problem paying for it, and the Journal reimbursed me.

Below I’ve pasted relevant parts from our six-page newsroom ethics policy. If anyone has questions I’d be happy to try to answer them or to ask our editor for an answer.
Use of connections for personal gain
 Employees shall not use their positions with the Journal to get any benefit or advantage in commercial transactions or personal business for themselves, their families, friends or acquaintances.
        Employees shall not use the company name, reputation, phone number or stationery to imply threat of retaliation or pressure, to curry favor or to seek personal gain.
 Disclose investments, real estate holdings and business interests whenever there may be a potential conflict. Under no circumstances should a reporter, photographer or editor have a direct role in covering a story in which they or their families have a personal financial stake. Shares held in a fund are excluded. Reassignment or divestment may be necessary to avoid real or perceived conflicts.
  Unless approved by a supervisor, staff members must not serve on boards of directors of for-profit corporations or businesses.
Gifts and freebies
 The acceptance of gifts or preferential treatment compromises or gives the appearance of compromising the integrity of the newspaper. Employees generally shall not accept business-connected gifts, sample products or free services — but consider the intent. If the gift is from a business grateful for favorable publicity and hopeful for more in the future, return it politely with a note explaining the newspaper’s policy. If the gift is small and from a reader delighted we wrote a nice feature about her grandson, accept it and acknowledge it graciously. If you have any doubt, return the gift politely — or if refusal would be awkward, donate the gift to charity or offer it as a prize to readers who contribute to the paper, then write to the donor explaining our policy. Gift or sample products that are of token or insignificant value (under $20), such as T-shirts, calendars, pencils or key chains, may be accepted. Bottles of liquor or wine shall be considered of more than token value and may not be kept.
        Books, records and tapes sent to the Journal for review purposes are accepted as news releases and may be kept by the appropriate staff member with consent of the department editor. Those that are not reviewed or that will not be used for background or as reference material will be given to charity or made available to others in the newsroom. Such items must never be sold for personal profit.
        Perishables, by nature, are handled differently. Food may be offered up for newsroom consumption, within reason, though large amounts should be returned or donated to a local food pantry.
 
Meals
 Whenever possible, we pay for our own meals. Use common sense and common courtesy when offered refreshments or food. A slice of pizza or any meal of less than $10 value is probably OK, but a prime rib dinner might give the perception that our coverage is being influenced.
        When covering a speech or similar event, pay for the meal or just don’t eat. When the cost of a meal includes a sum tacked on to raise funds (for instance, a $300-a-plate political dinner), we will pay only what we estimate to be the price of the meal if it were to be purchased in a restaurant. (This is not meant to prohibit corporate contributions to charity fund-raisers.)
Paying our way (tickets, events, travel, etc.)
 We will not accept, solicit or use free tickets or passes to public events, such as movies, business or government seminars, plays, fairs, concerts and sports events where admission is being charged for the public. Working press passes or tickets for employees covering or reviewing the events mentioned above may be accepted if that is the generally accepted practice. Employees who are not covering the event but who legitimately need to be there for background purposes also may accept working press passes or tickets. Such passes must never be given away or sold. Normal use of press facilities, such as press rooms, press boxes and press parking areas, is permitted.
 If an organization sends free tickets to the paper, they should be sent back with an explanation of our policies. Tickets received in consideration for paid promotions or advertising may be accepted.
        Travel necessary for the performance of professional duties shall be paid for by the Journal in all possible cases – including travel on a press plane of a political candidate or sports team. The editor or editor in charge may give approval for special travel arrangements that would be the sole way to effectively complete an assignment, such as when traveling with the governor to a news event or when military transit is involved.
        For routine travel in our coverage, staffers may be required to use their own vehicle, but the Journal reimburses for mileage.
Independence from other newspaper departments
 Never let advertising or business relationships with the newspaper influence our news decisions. We serve the long-range business interests of the paper and the community by being independent.
Advertisers attempting to influence coverage deserve only a polite refusal.

By Barbara Soderlin

Seeley, the Baken Park clothing store, was swamped today with shoppers looking to save money on suits, sweaters, pants and shirts. The store is having a huge sale on all its clothing before moving.

The store will reopen sometime in January or February at 725 Omaha St., the former home of Movie Gallery. That’s the same strip mall as where Dunn Bros. is.

The store used to be downtown before moving to Baken Park in 1995. Mark Bachman, who owns the shop with his father, Leonard, said they plan to totally renovate the Movie Gallery store and reopen with an updated line of clothing.

“We’re anxious to get down there and into our spot,” he said.

The store will be open Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

The Mount Rushmore Road Group will hold a holiday lighting ceremony in Wilson Park at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24. Volunteers from the group strung the lights recently as part of their ongoing efforts to beautify the commercial and tourist corridor.
The public is invited to the lighting ceremony. There will be cookies and hot chocolate at 5 p.m. followed by a welcome presentation and entertainment at 5:15. At 5:30 Mayor Alan Hanks will light a Christmas tree.
The lights and refreshments were provided by local businesses.

Al Rodriguez at Curry Masala says the restaurant’s newish downtown location, 510 St. Joe, will soon be adding dinner service on Friday and Saturday nights, but it won’t be the same cafeteria-style service they have for lunches.

There will be sit-down service and a different menu featuring appetizers, soups, salad, entrees and dessert. He sent over a copy of the menu and it includes dal soup, veggie biryani, Chennai chicken curry, rice payasam and more. Many of the dishes are vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free.

If it’s successful on the weekends he may expand to weeknights as well. Nice to have another weekend dinner option downtown.

Last week I wrote about the TECH2010 program offering grants to technology-based startup companies. Now another program, the new South Dakota Student Ventures Competition, will allow students to compete for a chance to receive up to $25,000 of investment capital to start a science and technology-based company, according to a news release from SDSU.
The competition is sponsored by South Dakota Innovation Partners in partnership with South Dakota State University’s College of Engineering, Entrepreneurial Studies Program and Technology Transfer Office.
“The objectives of the competition are to accelerate commercialization of entrepreneurial student ideas and generate a return on investment,” said President David Chicoine.
Individuals or teams interested in the student-based competition will submit an application for a concept that addresses a market issue and would lead to a science and technology-based start-up company.
South Dakota Innovation Partners, LLC is an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on accelerating science and technology-based economic development while providing a return on investment to its investors.
“We believe that one of the best opportunities to develop a knowledge-based economy is through the concepts developed by our students, which will lead to a return on investment for our investors and our communities,” said Mark Luecke, managing director and CEO.

The deadline for submitting applications is January 15, 2010. Additional information is at www.southdakotainnovation.com/student_ventures.
The review and feedback period for Student Ventures will correspond with the business plan submission deadline for the Governor’s Giant Vision Business Plan Competition on February 15, 2010.
Successful teams will be named and investment offers made on April 6, 2010.

Last week I suddenly noticed that I was no longer receiving Business Blog updates on my RSS reader and had not been receiving them since the 16th of October.  It turns out the subscription URL changed so once I entered the new URL, things are back to normal.  Thought I would let you know.

I wanted to share it in case anyone else had the same experience when the Journal updated its Web site.

The Department of Labor sends out new unemployment statistics each month, and the ones sent out today for October showed state unemployment hasn’t been this high in 24 years.

Local statistics usually come out a few days after statewide ones, so we’ll see how Rapid City is holding up. Fortunately we’ve had some good news about new jobs lately, including Jomay Steen’s story this morning about hiring at ASI. (Mistakes in stories aren’t funny, I know, but we had a laugh this morning because the story originally reported that people could make $45 an hour — when she meant to say $45,000 a year. The people at ASI said their website was overwhelmed this morning with people applying. $45 an hour is $93,600 a year. I was ready to apply. Oh well.)

Here’s the story:
Unemployment in South Dakota rose from 4.8 percent in September to 5 percent in October, according to the state Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national rate is 10.2 percent.
The last time the unemployment rate was at 5 percent was in December 1985, according to the state Department of Labor. The state’s highest unemployment rate since the bureau started keeping records in 1976 was 5.9 percent in October 1982.
Meanwhile, the level of unemployed was up by about 7,700 people in South Dakota according to the October 2009 data compared to one year ago. The unemployment rate for October 2008 was 3.2 percent.
This October there were 22,200 unemployed out of the state’s total work force of 446,700.
 “The unemployment rate has remained relatively stable in South Dakota for the past several months, fluctuating between 4.8 to 5.0 percent,” State Labor Secretary Pam Roberts said in a news release.  “We continue to see small layoffs, but there are some employers cautiously hiring again.” 
Roberts said that the statistics show that the recession continues to affect South Dakota’s work force, with the number of people claiming unemployment benefits about triple that of the same time last year.
On the Web: www.sdjobs.org.

My colleague Heidi sent out the following message. Unfortunately I am hoping to receive Christmas presents this year. I think I have been good. But if you can help her out, give her a call:

I’m looking for a family who plans to go “presentless” for Christmas this year – maybe they’ve decided it’s too stressful or maybe they’re trying to teach their kids that the holidays aren’t just about “stuff.”
If you know someone who might be willing to talk to me for a story, please let me know.

Thanks,
Heidi Bell Gease
394-8419