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In the same week the Metropolitan District laid off more than a dozen support staff, including IT workers, the agency experienced a week-long shut down of its computer system, angering customers and frustrating customer service representatives who did not know when the system would return.

Customers who called the MDC this week with questions about their water bill or related issues were told the computer system was down and were advised to call back later in the week. MDC’s system has been down since Tuesday, and was still inoperative Friday afternoon.

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If you’re like me, you don’t think much about carpets.

Except maybe when you spill on one.

But like so many everyday things that we take for granted, carpets have a story to tell, and it’s becoming an intriguing sustainability story. Shaw Floors, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, recycled 121 million pounds of used carpet last year — reclaiming it from homes or offices, breaking it down into caprolactam, a compound which is a building block of nylon, and then redeploying the nylon to make new carpet.

The carpet pictured above is branded as EcoWorx.

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The Basics:

First impressions can ring true, but if you’re betting the 2011 Ford Escape is a trucky, cramped fuel hog, you’re all wrong. The Escape may look the part of a 7/8-scale Ford Explorer, but its car-based running gear makes it a crossover at heart–an aging heart, but at heart nonetheless.

Blocky looks and a functional cockpit are an appealing counterpoint to the wave of jellybean crossovers that have washed over the market in the ten years since the Escape was brand-new. The upright stance gives the ute decent headroom, despite the relatively high floor.

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The Northbrook-based insurer, which is struggling to reverse marketshare losses to its chief rivals, plans to reduce base commissions to 8% from 10%, it said in an internal announcement to agents. But variable commissions, based on meeting customer loyalty and growth goals, will expand, giving the best-performing agents the ability to earn as much as 16%. Currently, top performers can earn as much as 14%.

Crain’s first reported Allstate’s plans to cut base commissions in June.

The compensation changes have been in the works for months and have angered many agents, who already were under pressure for failing to hit growth goals, a shortcoming they blame on Allstate’s uncompetitive rates.

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(Reuters) Gold prices rose more than 3 percent on Tuesday as a drop in the dollar index helped the precious metal snap a four-day run of losses and after an early rout in the previous session tempted price-sensitive physical buyers back to the market.

Prices dropped more than $120 an ounce in Asian trading hours on Monday, an unprecedented intraday fall in value terms, as a rush for the liquidity of the dollar, losses in other markets and a margin hike on CME gold futures prompted selling.

They had pared those losses to just 1.7 percent by the end of the session, however, and continued their recovery on Tuesday, climbing comfortably back above their 100-day moving average just below $1,640.

Spot gold was up 2.5 percent at $1,672.00 an ounce at 1137 GMT (7:37 a.m.

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Soaring gasoline prices are in the rearview mirror.

For the first time in months, retail gasoline prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in places, including parts of Michigan, Missouri and Texas. And the relief is likely to spread thanks to a sharp decline in crude-oil prices.

The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.51 per gallon, down from a high of $3.98 in early May. Last week’s plunge in oil prices could push the average to $3.25 per gallon by November, analysts say.

Economist Philip Verleger equates it to “a stimulus program for consumers,” leaving them more money for clothes, dinners out and movies.

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Many organizations suffer huge capital losses due to embezzlement. If not controlled at the right time, it can create a grave problem for the organization. This Buzzle article deals with methods of preventing embezzlement in a business firm. In any business organization, there is a lot of cash inflow and outflow. If cash flows are not monitored on a regular basis, there are significant chances of someone from the organization taking undue advantage of it. Read more…