The National Association of Homebuilders released a study this week ranking Indianapolis as the most affordable metro area to live in the United States.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/19/real_estate/housing_affordability_improves/?postversion=2009021913

Peritus Public Relations opened an office in Indy in January, adding to its locations in Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington, KY, and Nashville, Tenn.

-Scott Jennings

The owner of the San Francisco Chronicle may close the newspaper adding to the ranks of major media outlets in dire shape. Media industry observers believe it won’t be long before a major metro loses its daily.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090224/na_us_san_francisco_chronicle.html?.v=1

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123551803197064061.html

-Gary Gerdemann

Pictured above: Scott Jennings in the Batmobile

Check out more shots from the 2009 Louisville Auto Show, including some of Ford’s newest vehicles, at our Flickr site.

The days of local television’s dominance of the TV are over. The increase in cable options has led to a decline in viewership and ad revenue causing many local stations to face being cut out completely.

Local stations are cutting back on original programming, cutting back their staffs and some are even eliminating their news altogether. Stations are also looking for new ways to generate revenue like highly local community sites and charging cable companies to carry their local signal.

This weakness could lead the major networks to eventually pull out and move to cable where they can charge providers a subscriber fee. This won’t happen overnight though, Major network still own many of the largest stations and have affiliation agreements with other stations that don’t come up for renewal for three to four years.

Learn more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123422910357065971.html.

-Danielle Rudy

From an idea presented by our summer intern teams last August, The Peritus Pundit emerged on the political scene in September as an interactive website designed to give political junkies a vehicle to prove their prowess. The Peritus Pundit Nation correctly picked the winner decisively. The Pundit also gained national attention including this spot on Fox News–http://tinyurl.com/cwegfj.

The Peritus Pundit has been crowned. Laura Barclay of Winston-Salem, NC., met the Peritus election challenge. Barclay was one of two entrants who correctly picked the election winner in all 50 states and D.C. Fittingly enough, Barclay is a McConnell Scholar alum. She will receive an engraved Tiffany crystal bowl to commemorate her superior election picking skills. Barclay has chosen the Heifer Project International to receive a $1,000 donation. Heifer Project’s goal is to end hunger. Learn more about Heifer Project at www.heifer.org.

Second place goes to Michael Adams of Alexandria, VA., who correctly picked 50 states. Adams selected Middletown Christian Church in Louisville to receive a $750 donation. Learn more about Middletown Christian Church at http://middletownchristian.org.

Third place is awarded to Garrett Roney of Louisville. Roney also correctly picked the election in 50 states but was edged out in the popular vote count. Roney named Kosair Children’s Hospital to receive a $250 donation. Learn more about Kosair Children’s Hospital at www.nortonhealthcare.com/locations/hospitals/kosair.

-Gary Gerdemann

Yesterday, Peritus Public Relations showed its support for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana at the 2009 Bowl for Kids Sake tournament for advertising and public relations agencies. I joined with the forces of Steve Bryant, Zack Selter, Jon Reigelman, Mark Mulloy to form our team of bowlers, but there were plenty of other Peritus colleagues present to cheer us on to victory.

We arrived at Vernon Lanes at 5:30 p.m. wearing our best game faces and bearing $1,100 in contributions for BBBS. One didn’t have to be on the bowling team to have a great time. Mark and Amy got into the groove of the DJ by cutting some dance moves out on the floor and there were plenty of bowling alley-style munchies to go around in addition to the free pizza provided by BBBS.

Bowl for Kids Sake hits home for me. As a Big Sister in the organization, I credit BBBS for connecting me with a little ‘sis who will be a friend for life. We’ve been matched since September 2007, and I couldn’t imagine not having her around.

It was a fantastic evening. Smiles abounded as we laughed, cheered and smiled our way through three very competitive games. And we learned a few things along the way: 1) we’ll be ready when next year’s tournament rolls around and 2) a Peritus Bowling Team may be in our future—we’re sort of really good.

-Charissa Acree

Steve “Strike Master” Bryant, Mark “The Man” Mulloy, Zack “Clear the Rack” Selter, Jon “Kingpin” Reigelman and Charissa “Ace” Acree represented Peritus.

The Pew Center on the States released a study featuring four states—Indiana, Maryland, Utah and Virginia—that are leaders in measuring the performance of government programs. We are currently in one of the most difficult fiscal environments in years, and as a result, states are making policy decisions based on performance data of government programs.

Indiana finds itself in relatively strong financial shape when compared to other states. Yet tough decisions must be made. Given the continued strains on the manufacturing sector, which our state relies upon so heavily, Indiana’s leaders must act wisely with budgets allocated to pay for state programs. This means simultaneously funding safety net programs for Hoosiers left behind by changes in the manufacturing economy while creating new opportunities to help Hoosiers apply their skills to 21st century initiatives. Considering the troubles all states are facing it is important to use each public dollar wisely. As our General Assembly meets for its budgetary session, Hoosiers will standby to see which priorities will survive debate and will be put into action to ensure Indiana’s financial stability and economic relevance.

You can read the study here: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/GPP_Budget_revised_web_NEW.pdf.

-Doran Moreland

Next Wednesday, February 11th, Peritus is sponsoring a bowling team in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kid’s Sake tournament at Vernon Lanes.

This particular tournament will pit our team against other public relations and advertising agencies in the Kentuckiana area. Representing Peritus will be Steve “Strike Master” Bryant, Mark “The Man” Mulloy, Charissa “Ace” Acree, Zack “Clear the Rack” Selter and Jon “Kingpin” Reigelman. Our goal is to raise at least $500.00 for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Please pledge your support to the Peritus team and Big Brothers Big Sisters by making your donations online at our team website — Peritus Team Site.

Come on out to have fun and support the team next Wednesday, February 11th, 5:30 p.m. at Vernon Lanes.

Vernon Lanes
1575 Story Avenue
Louisville, KY 40206
Phone: 502.584.8460

-Liz Harmon

It seems like all you hear about now is social media. Everyone is trying to harness it to increase awareness, increase revenue and up their “cool” factor. On that note, I think it is worth saying “Happy 5th Birthday” to the reigning king of social media - Facebook.

I had a friend from high school who went to school at Brown, one of the first schools to have access to TheFacebook (as it was known then) so when it came to Kentucky I could not wait to join. Five years later, I still check the site daily for updates on “friends” and now family members and work colleagues.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10156661-36.html

-Danielle Rudy