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Losing the Warren Theatre in Old Town would hurt -- but not devastate -- nearby retailers and restaurants, say the owners of those businesses. Owner Bill Warren said Friday that he is considering closing his Old Town theater due to lack of business. He has begun talks with the city for financial help.

He opened the theater in 2003 as the anchor of the $25 million public-private Old Town Square, at the north edge of Old Town.

The theater is unusual because it serves food and drinks during the movies. Officials said at the time that it would attract people who wouldn't ordinarily come to Old Town, helping diversify the district beyond bars.

The cluster of restaurants and retailers in the northern part of Old Town generally love the Warren.

Janet Rine, owner of Caffe Moderne, sees moviegoers come in after a show for drinks or dessert.

A fledgling Wichita company has completed its first venture into local cinema, a 45-second animated trailer for Warren Theatres.

Integrated Media Group, 143 N. Rock Island, was formed early this year by Wichita entrepreneur Jason Opat and investors. Formerly Rule Productions -- a company formed by Opat in 2000 -- the media development company, produces everything from commercials to interactive Hollywood graphics.

Its commercial clients include Kanza Bank, Rainbows United and Starkey. The company's graphics work has been featured in the movies "Firewall" and "The Shaggy Dog," with others in the works.

"It's a really diverse media product line, but for us it all comes back to computer-generated film and graphics, to the Web and HDTV," Opat said.

The trailer, a 3-D animated airborne look at Bill Warren's old-style theaters, debuted April 3 at the company's new Moore, Okla., theater and is bound for his Wichita locations.

The Old Town Warren is losing enough money to threaten its future, leading owner Bill Warren on Friday to ask city officials for financial help. Earlier Friday, Warren told The Eagle that without the city's help he would close the theater within two weeks. He said it is burdened financially by a struggling sports bar and sagging weekday attendance.

"Downtown is a tougher place to run a theater than in the suburbs," Warren said Friday morning. "It's a simple fact."

Warren backed off that statement later in the day after talking with Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

Brewer said that when he asked Warren about the potential closing Friday afternoon, Warren indicated he wasn't serious about the two-week deadline.

"He started laughing and said it was 2 or 3 in the morning when he figured that out," Brewer said, laughing himself.

The U.S. Air Force is asking the Government Accountability Office to deny Boeing's protest of the Air Force's decision to buy refueling tankers from Northrop Grumman.

The Air Force submitted its more than 1,000-page response to the GAO on Thursday.

The response is subject to a protective order from the GAO and won't be made public until it is "appropriately redacted," said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Karen Platt. All of it must be screened for redactions by all parties, she said, including Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

The GAO will issue a decision on Boeing's protest by June 19.

On Feb. 29, the Air Force awarded a contract worth $35 billion to a team of Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. --parent of Airbus -- for KC-45A aerial refueling tankers. Boeing later filed a protest saying the decision was flawed.

Southwest Precision Manufacturing, a maker of pumps for CNC machines, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company, at 3810 S. Midco, is continuing to operate, said lawyer Thomas Gilman of Redmond & Nazar. The key issue, Gilman said, is that "they have too much debt."

The filing last week listed the company's assets and liabilities at between $1 million and $10 million. The 20 largest creditors have about $780,000 in claims.

The company is 70 percent owned by Dana Youngers and 30 percent owned by James Youngers. James Youngers is listed as the chief operating officer on the company Web site.

According to the Web site, James Youngers formed the company when he purchased Southwest Manufacturing in March 2006 and merged it with his company, Maintenance Services and Technologies.

Cessna Aircraft's revenue, profit and order backlog rose in the first quarter as business jet deliveries increased and demand remained strong, company officials said Thursday.

Despite a slowing U.S. economy, Cessna took orders for 235 business jets in the first three months of the year, including its 500th Citation Mustang. Eighty of those orders were from U.S. companies.

And international demand is "surprisingly and finally strong," said Lewis Campbell, chief executive of Textron Inc. --Cessna's parent company -- during a conference call about the company's performance. "I think it's going to get stronger."

About half of Cessna's business jet orders are traditionally from outside the U.S., he said.

The first-quarter orders also included 36 for the Citation Columbus, Cessna's new $27 million, eight-seat business jet. The company expects to take 70 orders for the Columbus this year, meaning orders are running ahead of projections.

The 2008 Small Business Awards Program, sponsored by the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, will be twice as much as fun as last year.

For the first time, two winners will be selected -- one for companies with 25 employees or less and another for companies with 26 to 100 employees.

The program -- in its fourth year and also sponsored by Business Today -- is intended to spotlight outstanding small businesses for their accomplishments and contributions to the community.

Three companies -- Great Plains Communications, Spurrier Chemicals and LawKingdon Architecture -- were finalists a year ago. Last year's winner was Aerospace Systems and Components.

The 2008 winners will be announced at a luncheon May 20 at the Hyatt Regency Wichita.

Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest international accountancy and professional services firms, will reopen a Wichita office May 1.

The company, based in New York City, has subleased first-floor space from Dimensions Financial Group in the Stinson Morrison Hecker building at Lakeside at the Waterfront. Dimensions took over about 6,100 square feet on Monday.

The two companies are not related.

Ernst & Young, one of the Big 4, signed a two-year lease with one-year options on the space. It sees growth potential in "major corporate accounts" in Wichita, particularly aviation, said spokeswoman Rita Shankel.

"There's a lot of growth in your area in industries that Ernst & Young has a depth of expertise in," she said.

Boeing Wichita Credit Union will not be the only one losing a leader when Gary Regoli leaves next month.

The state's credit union industry also will be losing a leader.

"The Florida (credit union) movement will be blessed with his presence," said Marla Marsh, chief executive of the Kansas Credit Union Association.

Regoli, 50, said Wednesday that he will leave BWCU on May 15 to become chief executive of Achieva Credit Union in Clearwater, Fla.

Regoli said family considerations ultimately drove his decision to accept the position at Achieva, whose chief executive retired last year.

It's late on a Friday night in April. Temperatures are in the low 40s. People are huddled in their cars beneath coats and blankets.

Yet, they're happy. A movie is showing on the 100-foot screen. They're talking and eating; a few are wandering around.

It's another night at the Starlite Drive-In Theatre.

This relic from decades ago is one of the few survivors of multiple evolutions in technology and business that has driven most of its brethren toward extinction.

But now, the Starlite and all drive-in theaters face another big challenge: In the next three to five years, all theater owners must buy digital movie projectors at an estimated cost of $75,000 to $80,000 apiece.

Equity Bank has reached an agreement to merge with Ellis State Bank, giving Andover-based Equity its first foothold west of the Wichita area, with branches in Ellis and Hays.

The deal, expected to close June 30 following approval by state and federal banking regulators, will push Equity's assets to $360 million. It also builds upon a geographic expansion the bank started in 2006, when it opened a loan production office in Lee's Summit, Mo.

The Ellis merger is part of a longer-term strategy by the bank to grow by internal means and through additional mergers.

"We will look at (merger) opportunities that would bring a management team that wants to stay in place and ownership that wants to grow their value" in the bank, said Brad Elliott, Equity's chairman and chief executive.

This is Equity's second merger with a bank outside of the Wichita area. In November it completed a merger with Signature Bancshares, which gave Equity branches in Overland Park, Spring Hill and Haddam.

Wichita Area Technical College has suspended three programs and streamlined two others because of poor demand.

"We aren't eliminating these programs at this point, and we could bring them back if things change," said WATC spokeswoman Helen Thomas.

The technical college suspended the medical lab technician, carpentry and diesel technology programs. The medical assistant and licensed practical nurse programs will be streamlined.

Ten jobs will be eliminated, Thomas said.

"These situations affect people's lives, so we have considered them very carefully and thoughtfully," said Peter Gustaf, WATC president.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will sign a bill Wednesday that will authorize economic development assistance for Cessna Aircraft.

Sebelius will sign House Bill 2006 at an 11 a.m. ceremony at Cessna. The Legislature passed the bill earlier this month, giving Cessna a bond package of up to $33 million to build a plant in Wichita for its new Citation Columbus business jet.

Cessna is expected to add about 1,000 jobs with an annual payroll of $74 million.

Cessna officials said other states tried to entice the planemaker to build the plant outside Kansas.

"We think this sends a strong message to the aerospace companies here in Wichita that the state intends to remain the first choice for us (as aircraft manufacturers) when we're looking to expand," Cessna Aircraft spokesman Doug Oliver said.

Attack on tanker is behind latest spike

Rising gasoline prices tightened the squeeze on drivers Monday, jumping to an average $3.50 a gallon at filling stations across the country.

Crude oil, meanwhile, set a record of its own, spiking after an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in the Middle East to close above $117 a barrel for the first time.

Diesel prices at the pump also struck a record high, of $4.20 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service, putting pressure on truckers and other shippers who rely on the fuel to transport goods to market.

Prices are expected to keep climbing as they trace the path of crude, which has surged to record highs for six trading sessions in a row.

There are thousands of people working in information technology jobs in the Wichita area.

Some work for area companies that manufacture, develop or test computers, computer components and software.

But others work at banks, aircraft manufacturers, retailers and law and accounting firms.

State and local leaders are trying to capture the depth and breadth of technology expertise in the area through a new industry group.

By doing so, they said, they can promote the technology assets -- people, companies, organizations and education centers -- the area has with the ultimate goal of retaining and increasing those assets.

A Wichita-based investment group has tabled plans to build a hotel and restaurant in Greensburg after the Kansas Department of Transportation turned down a request this month for a diamond interchange on U.S. 54 downtown.

Wichita restaurateur Larry Burke, a Greensburg native, and local investor Lynn Marotte say they will wait to see KDOT's final plans for the relocation of U.S. 54 before they decide on several Greensburg projects.

They're considering rebuilding the old Dillons store, converting it into office space and a restaurant, but believe a diamond interchange onto Main Street is essential to their success.

In addition, plans for a 20-unit extended-stay motel are on the drawing board.

"I'm not going to turn my back on my hometown, but as far as a restaurant feeding 120 people, I'm not going to do that now," Burke said.

The "No Casinos Campaign" by Sullivan Higdon & Sink won Best of Show in the 2008 Public Relations Society of America-Kansas Chapter Clarus Awards.

The campaign was created by an SHS team that included Greg Hobson, Ian Johnson, Lathi de Silva, Sam Williams, Carrie Lindeman and Heather Lauer.

Other finalists for Best of Show were "Food Drive" by Cessna Aircraft Co. and "Kids Club Car Show" by Envision.

The awards ceremony was held Tuesday night at the Wichita Art Museum.

Several special awards also were handed out:

The National Federation of Independent Business has launched a campaign for health care reform, and leaders are calling on Kansas business owners to get involved.

Of the 47 million Americans without health insurance, more than 27 million are small-business owners, their employees or dependents, national statistics show.

Small businesses that provide health insurance on average pay 18 percent more for the same benefits as big business, said Michelle Dimarob, NFIB legislative affairs manager.

She spoke Tuesday at a forum in Wichita intended to outline the organization's health care reform initiative, which launched last month in Washington, D.C., and targets change at the legislative level.

Health care has been the No. 1 issue among NFIB members since 1986, officials said.

Several Wichita-area business and government officials will take part next week in a development trip to Germany that will end with a session with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The city of Wichita, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft will be among the groups represented on the trip, which begins Sunday and will continue through May 2.

Wichita City Council member Jim Skelton, who lived in Germany for more than three years, Cessna's Roger Whyte and Hawker Beechcraft's Ted Farid are on the tour list.

"I'm going to help make the Germans aware of the economic potential of south-central Kansas, along with the strength of our economic situation," Skelton said.

"The trip is about networking, and I'm really looking forward to meeting all the businesspeople there."

Although official numbers haven't been released by the Wichita Area Association of Realtors, a solid economy and better March weather appear to have been good news for local home buyers and sellers.

That wasn't the case nationwide, however. Sales of new homes plunged nationally in March to the lowest level in 16 ½ years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season.

First-quarter sales in Wichita got off to a slow start, as a harsh winter and the furor surrounding the national housing downturn took their toll on buyers.

But Sharon West, senior vice president of Wichita's Plaza Real Estate, said March was pretty standard.

"We're active," she said. "Interest rates are still holding. There are still opportunities for first-time homebuyers."

Amidst all the money flowing into downtown Wichita redevelopment sits a small, white-haired jeweler with a perpetual smile who has been investing in the center of the city for four decades.

Steve Anthimides, president of Athena Jewelry, is renovating Century Plaza on the southwest corner of Douglas and Main into the Olympus Tower.

Anthimides and his investors have lofty goals for the 1929 structure: three floors of office and retail, with seven floors of condos above.

They want to build a 400-unit parking garage behind the building and re-open the building's legendary basement club, formerly Lancers.

Big plans from a man who's no stranger to downtown redevelopment: Much of the south side of the 200 block of East Douglas is his, from the jewelry store to the Thai Kitchen and a small parking garage.

Wall Street ended its second straight winning week with a moderate advance Friday, overcoming concerns about consumer confidence and inflation.

After slumping early in the session in response to weak consumer confidence and a spike in oil prices, investors seemed to turn their attention to broader signs, including the week's generally satisfactory earnings reports, which suggested that government efforts to steady the economy appear to be working. That shift in focus sent stocks up late in the day.

Although the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index came in with its lowest reading since the early 1980s, Tom Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments in Newport Beach, Calif., said companies' first-quarter reports convinced investors that "overall, things aren't all that bad."

"I think a lot of people went into the weekend feeling they didn't want to be on the short side," Lydon said.

The consumer sentiment index fell to 62.6 for April from 69.5 a month earlier, reflecting Americans' concern about rising energy and food prices.

Enterprising businessman turns crisis to opportunity

Before Sept. 11, 2001, Keith Entz was in the aircraft parts business. "I had my own manufacturing shop and was doing work for all the Wichita companies," he said. "Then 9/11 hit, and it was like turning off a faucet. There just wasn't any business anymore."

He was looking for a new way to put his engineering degree and technical skills to work in a new career, when one day, for no apparent reason, he noticed a wheelchair.

"Looking at that thing as an engineer, I was just appalled," he said. "It just screamed 'antiquated technology.' I remember thinking that it was a crime that people with disabilities would be stuck rolling around in technology 70 years out of date."

That was the beginning of Aero Innovative Research Inc., a Wichita company that builds and sells a new kind of wheelchair.

The number of Kansas medical school graduates choosing family medicine has sharply declined in the past two years, deepening an already critical need for doctors in rural areas of the state.

At the University of Kansas School of Medicine, which has prided itself on leading the nation in graduating family medicine doctors, only 22 physicians chose family medicine residencies this year. That's the lowest number since 1990 and down from a high of 53 in 1995.

The news is worse at KU's Wichita campus -- long considered a pipeline for family medicine physicians -- where graduating doctors choosing family medicine this year and last is down by 50 percent, dean S. Edwards Dismuke said.

"This campus is used to having about 20 students each year go into a family medicine residence and the last two years, that's down to 10 a year," he said. "That's the national trend, and it's catching up to us."

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the 1,172 medical school graduates who went into family medicine in 2008 represent a 46 percent decline from a decade ago.

The total health care payroll in the Wichita region packs a $2.3 billion economic punch, planting health care firmly in the No. 1 spot for industry growth and No. 2 for employment.

Just how prominent health care and its related industries are locally is the subject of a new survey commissioned by the Medical Society of Sedgwick County and prepared by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University.

The point was to affirm that health care is a critical asset to our region, said Jon Rosell, executive director of the society.

"The purpose was to take a snapshot of a point in time... to quantify how vital health care is to the overall economy," he said. "Then it only makes sense for us to think strategically and constructively as to how we can build upon the strengths we already have."

Health care workers' salaries average $35,569 annually in the Wichita region -- which comprises Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick and Sumner counties -- ranking seventh overall among all industries and outpacing the average local wage of $30,304.

Jeff Arensdorf isn't about to let the cost of diesel get him down.

The co-owner of Wichita's Village Charters is pressing ahead with a new tour catalog, aware of the pinch that skyrocketing diesel prices, now around $4.20 a gallon, are putting on his operating margins.

"We're just mindful that nothing's long-term," Arensdorf said.

"We think we've got a good reputation and a good product. And we look at it this way: When gas goes up a dollar a gallon, you're dividing that between one or two people.

"With us, when diesel goes up a dollar a gallon, we're dividing that between 40 or 50 people."

Existing and new home sales fell by double digits in the Wichita area in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released Monday by the South Central Kansas Multiple Listing Service.

The reason, according to national real estate experts, is tighter credit and plummeting consumer confidence, national issues that have landed in Wichita.

Residential sales were off by 160 in March compared with March 2007. New residential listings declined to a four-year low at 1,297, 315 below March 2006.

Meanwhile, new and existing home inventories remained basically steady with March 2007.

Median sales prices continued to rise: existing homes up 5.56 percent to $95,000 and new homes up 13.66 percent to $192,400.

A brain drain is stalking Wichita -- and it's time to stop talking and start doing something about it, say local leaders.

Two fact-gathering efforts backed by the business community -- including one that begins today -- are planned to bring some hard data to the question of why young adults leave Wichita, what causes others to stay and what can be done to attract more. The ultimate result will likely find its way into local company programs and government policies.

Wichita has gained young adults over the years -- but that rate has slowed in recent decades. The worry is that with the departure of baby boomers from the work force, beginning this year, Wichita's factories and offices won't have enough people to flourish and grow.

The issue has become a nationwide fixation for smaller cities.

"Attracting talented youth is not just a cool thing to do, it's economic development," said Jim Schwarzenberger, vice president for talent acquisition and development for the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Stock price beats first-quarter estimates

Boeing's problems with the 787 did not have a big effect on Spirit AeroSystems' first quarter in 2008, as the Wichita-based manufacturer turned in higher-than-expected financial results Tuesday.

Spirit's stock closed at $28.64 a share Tuesday, up 3.9 percent for the day and 36 percent since the stock hit its 52-week low March 17.

Spirit officials said the company so far had been successful adjusting to Boeing's delays in 787 first flight and delivery schedules, minimizing the impact to Spirit.

It helped, too, that Spirit got a $124 million payment for 787 work from Boeing in the quarter that ended March 31.

Two new tenants are moving to buildings owned by Real Development.

Youth for Christ will move into the Petroleum Building, 221 S. Broadway, and the Kansas World Trade Center will take space in the former SC Telcom building, 125 N. Market.

Youth for Christ is taking 2,983 square feet after it sold its building at First and Volutsia in order to grow from eight employees to 13.

It moved downtown because it changed the way it works. One of its programs, dealing with teenage mothers, was based at its old building. But the group has since moved that program to a local church.

The group also works with teens in the juvenile justice system, helping rehabilitate them and finding them work when they get out.

Towne East Square will get a new look this year, renovations that will transform the mall from a high-tech, glass and metal motif to a warm, upscale look.

Officials with Towne East, owned by Simon Property Group, and some Wichita and Sedgwick County leaders "broke tile" Thursday on the multimillion-dollar project.

The new look will include stone-like tile on the lower level, carpet on the upper level and two new entrance facades that do away with the red accents and instead incorporate masonry work and shades of beige.

The renovations also will include a children's play area with oversized play items, a reading area and expanded seating for families, as well as new family and nursing restrooms.

"We're trying to enhance the shopping experience, making our family-friendly shopping areas... bigger and better," said Mis Gaston, Simon's area director of strategic mall marketing.

Sales at Lexus, Auto Plaza are 36 percent higher than last year's

In Bobby Cuillo's first three months as general manager of Scholfield Lexus and Scholfield Auto Plaza, sales at the luxury car dealerships increased 36 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Scholfield officials credit Cuillo's leadership and a healthy local economy for sales that represent "one of the best first quarters we've ever had," said Steve Hatchett, partner and chief executive of the two dealerships.

Between sales of cars and service, the dealerships brought in nearly $20 million in the first quarter.

Cuillo (pronounced kwil-loh) replaced Chris Lent, who managed the Lexus dealership, and Randy Hershorn, who managed the Auto Plaza. Scholfield Auto Plaza's brands are Acura, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

Don't be fooled by a larger-than-expected increase in consumer spending.

People aren't buying more -- they're just paying more for their purchases, raising doubts about whether the 130 million stimulus payments the government began sending out this week will be enough to lift consumers' sagging spirits.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending was up 0.4 percent, double the increase that economists had forecast. However, once inflation was removed, spending edged up a much slower 0.1 percent.

The March reading was the fourth straight lackluster performance and did nothing to alleviate worries that consumer spending -- which accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity -- remains under severe strains, reflecting an economy beset by multiple problems.

Rising food costs, soaring energy prices and rising unemployment have pushed consumer confidence to the lowest levels in five years. Incomes in March rose a weak 0.3 but after removing inflation, after-tax incomes were flat.