Only Palm Beach County showed some moderation in the number of business bankruptcies when compared to August 2009.

In the three-county area, personal bankruptcy filings were up 59 percent, to 3,387 from 2,127 in August 2009, and up 6 percent from July. Business bankruptcy filings rose 7 percent, to 119 from 111, a year earlier, but were down 17 percent from July.

In Miami-Dade County, personal bankruptcy filings rose 74 percent, year-over-year, to 1,788 cases opened, and 5 percent over July. There were 49 new business bankruptcies for Miami-Dade in August, up from 40 last year, but down from 57 in July.

Personal bankruptcy filings in Broward rose 50 percent over last year, to 1,067 cases opened, and rose 12 percent compared to July. There were 43 new business bankruptcies filed in Broward County in August, up from 41 last year, but down from 47 in July.

Palm Beach County personal bankruptcies rose 36 percent, year-over-year, to 532, but decreased by 4 percent compared to July. There were 27 new business bankruptcy filings in Palm Beach County in August, down from 30 cases last year and 40 cases in July.

The American Bankruptcy Institute said August consumer filings nationwide rose 6 percent to 127,028 from 119,874 a year earlier, but fell 8 percent from the July total.

“While monthly filings are volatile, consumer bankruptcies are still the highest they have been since Congress overhauled the bankruptcy law in 2005,” ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said. “Consumer filings remain on track to top 1.6 million filings in 2010.”

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The unit will operate as a stand-alone business of Santa Clara-based Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). Infineon's chips are used in smart phones including Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4.

The technology will expand Intel's Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings and be used in Intel Core processor-based laptops and Atom processor devices, including smart phones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.

"The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate," Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, said in the announcement. "The acquisition of Infineon's WLS business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE business card design.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

It is the second major acquisition for Intel in recent weeks. The company on Aug. 19 announced it had agreed to acquire the security software maker McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) for approximately $7.68 billion.

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As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, Andrew Thomas had 2,000-vote lead on Tom Horne in their bitter primary fight. Some Phoenix-area media outlets said late Tuesday the margin was down to 1,000 votes.

Thomas had 50 percent of the vote versus Horne's 49 easy to get unsecured personal loans.5 percent. The race could go down to early ballots dropped off at polling places Tuesday.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is backing Thomas, while more moderate Republicans side with Horne.

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The heavily tattooed, bandana-wearing CEO fits right in at TapouT, a 140-employee clothing company in Grand Terrace, Calif., that caters to athletes and fans of mixed martial arts, a combat sport known for its brutality.

Apart from the name, what makes Punkass and his co-founders unique is the commitment they made more than a decade ago to a sport that was then virtually unknown. They took a gamble on a market that barely existed.

The risk? If the market didn’t grow, TapouT would have nowhere to go. The reward? If the market exploded, they would be the first ones in.

Back in 1997, TapouT’s three co-founders — Dan "Punkass" Caldwell, Charles "Mask" Lewis and Tim "Skyskrape" Katz — had no college degrees and little money. But all three had trained in mixed martial arts and were ardent fans of the sport. They were confident that someday, the sport would be accepted — even embraced — by a mainstream audience.

So they took the kind of leap that would make little sense to anyone but their fellow true believers: They maxed out their credit cards to start a small operation selling t-shirts at underground mixed martial arts competitions.

Back then, mixed martial arts was still a fledgling movement, well under the radar of other apparel companies. Today, it’s almost as mainstream as boxing — and TapouT’s block-letter logo has become synonymous with the sport.

The company sponsors well-known fighters like Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko and Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. (Along with tattoos and bulging biceps, nicknames are a must-have for practitioners of mixed martial arts). TapouT also sells clothing, mouth guards, nutritional supplements and other branded goods online and at retail chains including Macy’s and Champs Sports.

All those t-shirts and vitamins add up fast. Last year, TapouT raked in $200 million in annual revenue — more than 16 times its $12 million revenue in 2006.

So how does TapouT keep the mixed martial arts market in a headlock? Customers say it’s the early relationship the company developed with both fighters and fans.

"They’ve been right in the mix from the beginning," says Andrew Lang, co-owner of Lightning MMA, a mixed martial arts gym in Laguna Hills, Calif. "Those three guys were at all the events — they have this presence, this rapport with the fighters."

In the late ’90s, TapouT sponsored fledgling fighters for $300 a pop. Nowadays, sponsorships cost anywhere from $3,000 to $1 million.

"We have a full team dealing with our fighters and their managers 24/7," says Punkass. "We’re worried about their personal lives, too. How’s their new baby? How do they feel after a fight?"

The goal is to get fighters to wear TapouT gear in and out of the ring. That, in turn, has given the company mass appeal among fans — which come mainly from the sought-after 18- to 34-year-old male demographic guaranteed payday loans.

"I don’t know who’s more fanatic, mixed martial arts people or NASCAR people," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market research firm. "But in either case, when you’re that fanatical there is a tremendous allegiance to a brand, and it’s all about the lifestyle. It’s almost like a club."

To make sure that club keeps growing, Punkass, Mask and Skyskrape brought a seasoned entrepreneur, Marc Kreiner, on board in 2006. Kreiner had a varied background — he launched disco bands in the ’70s and more recently started an infomercial company — but he helped bring TapouT products to over 20,000 stores worldwide. He also inked a handful of licensing agreements, including a line of TapouT-branded supplements with Champion Nutrition.

"We’re licensing a nutrition line, energy drinks and TapouT gyms," says Kreiner, now the president and chairman of TapouT. "The motto is ‘Grow big or go home.’"

But TapouT’s evolution had its low ebbs. In 2009, co-founder Mask — known for his big personality and signature face paint — died in a car crash. Kreiner, Punkass and Skrape were leveled by the loss of their friend and colleague. Many TapouT employees got commemorative tattoos in Mask’s honor with the word "believe."

Punkass says that Mask’s death has been the company’s biggest challenge to date. But TapouT has other, less tragic troubles. While mixed martial arts has toned down the violence a bit in recent years — the rules, for example, no longer permit biting and eye-gouging — some lingering controversy about the sport’s roughness could limit the growth of its fanbase, which is TapouT’s main audience.

A handful of smaller companies have also entered in the mixed martial arts apparel industry, including Dethrone Royalty Clothing and Hitman Fight Gear. But when it comes to the competition, TapouT’s main threat is much bigger players, like Nike and Adidas.

So could TapouT be the next sports apparel giant, akin to Under Armour?

It’s unlikely, suggests Cohen, the NPD Group analyst. But for the moment, at least, the company doesn’t have significant competitors vying for a share of the same market, he notes. And there’s plenty of room to grow: The overall sports apparel market rakes in $12 billion a year in the United States alone.

As TapouT lends its name to more and more products, the company runs the risk of diluting its brand and losing "street cred" with its loyal fan base. But Punkass isn’t worried about that.

"I don’t see ourselves making TapouT Ken and Barbie dolls anytime soon," he says. "We won’t make a product unless it connects to our core audience. We stay true to the brand." 

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The All Things Digital blog of the Wall Street Journal reported the deal on Sunday, saying it is likely to be in the $10 million range and is most likely a talent buy rather than a new product play by the Palo Alto social networking company.

Mountain View-based Chai Labs was founded by Gokul Rajaram, who is a former Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) AdSense executive.

Regulatory filings show that it raised $1.1 million in funding last year and $1.3 million in 2008. Among the advisers list on its website are Netscape Communications Corp. founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn Inc. founder Reid Hoffman and Excite co-founder Joe Kraus.

Chai Labs' technology helps publishers and journalists launch content websites.

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In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday, Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) said a routine FDA inspection of its San Dimas facility in February raised concerns from the agency about maintenance of aseptic processing conditions in the manufacturing area for its AmBisome anti-fungal product. The agency also cited environmental maintenance issues in the warehouse, batch sampling and the timeliness of completion of annual product quality reports.

Gilead, which said it has addressed all of the FDA’s concerns, learned in May that the agency “may be considering” issuing a warning letter as a result of the inspection, according to the SEC filing guaranteed payday loan.

A warning letter could hurt Gilead’s ability to receive export certificates or approvals of regulatory applications associated with “the products at issue,” the company said, and “decrease our revenues and harm our business.”

Gilead makes AmBisome and Cayston, a recently approved inhaled drug to treat cystic fibrosis symptoms, at San Dimas. It also fills and finishes Macugen, an injectable drug marketed by Eyetech Inc. to treat age-related macular degeneration, at the facility.

AmBisome had sales of $155.2 million in the first half, Gilead’s largest-selling drug outside of its antiviral products.

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For the past two years, Capitol Federal has had an agreement with Walgreens stores in the Kansas City area, allowing free ATM access for Capitol Federal customers. The addition of about 40 Walgreens locations throughout Kansas brings the Capitol Federal ATM network in Kansas and Kansas City to about 100 locations. Capitol Federal customers can use these ATMs without surcharges or other transaction fees.

“What this does is give our customers more convenience,” said Frank Wright, electronic banking officer at Capitol Federal. “We’re finding that our customers are very mobile. We have many clients who travel through Kansas, and this allows them more locations to make bank transactions. The deal with Walgreens also helps us offer this service at a lower cost than it would be for us to scout a location and set up a new ATM ourselves.”

Capitol Federal Savings Bank, which is held by Topeka-based Capitol Federal Financial (Nasdaq: CFFN), has 22 branches in the Kansas City area and 45 branches overall. It ranks sixth on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of top area banks, with a 4.32 percent local market share of deposits — $1.76 billion.

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Revenues for the quarter increased 23 percent to $107.5 million from $87.8 million in the same quarter last year.

The McLean-based business software company (NASDAQ: MSTR) product licenses revenue for the second quarter was $28.9 million versus $20.5 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 41 percent increase. Product support and other services revenue for MicroStrategy's core business intelligence business in the second quarter was $74.5 million versus $64.1 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 16 percent increase.

MicroStrategy saw gains in both software licensing sales and product support and services, which now accounts for the majority of its revenue.

Operating expenses for the second quarter were $68.8 million versus $55.3 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 24 percent increase. During the second quarter, MicroStrategy capitalized $2.2 million in research and development costs associated with the development of its MicroStrategy Mobile software, while no software development costs were capitalized during the second quarter of 2009.

MicroStrategy Mobile, a platform that extends business intelligence apps to the iPhone and iPad, was made generally available on June 30, and introduced at MicroStrategy's user conference in Cannes, France, on July 6.

In a statement MicroStrategy President and CEO Michael Saylor said: "The mobile Internet is the next wave of information technology. Many people prefer to consume business intelligence on their mobile devices rather than on their desktop computers, since mobile devices are more portable, always on, and always connected."

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Northrop announced July 1 it won a new contract for logistics support at Fort Eustis worth as much as $46 million over five years. The company will continue to provide supply management, installation transportation support and equipment maintenance at the base, but it will no longer provide food services.

“The new contract has a few changes,” said Northrop spokesman Ron Ellis. “One key change was a small business requirement for the food services portion of the contract.”

The company said it will offer assistance to employees affected by the job cuts, without being specific.

Northrop (NYSE: NOC), which is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Fairfax County, has provided support services at Fort Eustis for nearly 30 years.

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In his latest review of compensation practices at companies that were bailed out by American taxpayers, White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg condemned those companies for how they rewarded employees between late 2008 and early 2009.

"These 17 exercised poor judgment," said Feinberg. "They shouldn’t have made these payments."

The review was part of a previously-announced effort to shed light on whether any of the early recipients of funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, made excessive payments to employees before Congress passed legislation in February of 2009 requiring greater oversight at bailed-out firms.

Those implicated in Friday’s report included some of the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid. Wall Street investment houses like Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) were both cited as firms that made excessive payments to executives. More traditional lenders like PNC (PNC, Fortune 500) and Buffalo, NY-based M&T Bank (MTB) were included on the list, as was the troubled insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) and small-business lender CIT Group (CIT).

Spokespeople for several of the 17 companies either declined to comment or were not immediately available.

But others said they supported Feinberg’s efforts to reform compensation practices and said they planned to review the proposal.

"Getting our compensation structure right is a priority for us," said a statement issued by a spokesman for Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), which also made the list.

More than 400 companies underwent review, although less than half of that number actually warranted a closer look because their executives made less than $500,000 payday loan. That was the cutoff point that was established when the program was announced last March.

Despite the breadth of the study, it offered few details about the size of payouts made by individual firms, or how much specific executives were paid — although Feinberg said that several people received more than $10 million during that period.

In a briefing with reporters in Washington Friday, Feinberg said the payouts were "not illegal" and not "contrary to the public interest." He added that he did not have the power to force companies to claw back those payments to employees.

"His mandate was very limited," said Alan Levine, an executive compensation and benefits partner with the New York-based law firm Morrison Cohen.

Feinberg did however, encourage the 17 firms to adopt new rules that would allow them to restructure or cancel pay packages in the event of another financial crisis.

"That’s all I can do," he said. Friday’s report represents the latest, and perhaps the last, ruling by Washington’s pay czar.

Last October, Feinberg slashed pay for top executives at the seven companies that were rescued more than once by the federal government — AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) , Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.

Two months later, he capped salaries for lower-level executives at those same firms at $500,000. Both rulings served as a benchmark for employee pay levels in 2010.

His role at the Treasury Department however is expected to quickly come to a close. He was recently appointed to handle claims related to the BP (BP) oil spill. 

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