Latest news with #Castellano
Chicago Tribune
14-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Person in custody after Blue Island house fire damages multiple buildings
One person is in custody after a fire tore through one home in Blue Island and damaged two neighboring buildings early Monday morning, city officials say. The fire erupted near 2038 Vermont St., damaging an adjacent home and business, Vanessa's Beauty Salon. City spokesperson Tom Wogan would not disclose the name of the person in custody or how the fire started as of Monday afternoon. 'The gentleman who is in custody does have some burn injuries,' Wogan said Monday. The man was being treated at a hospital and has not been charged, Wogan said. One firefighter who responded was also treated for heat exhaustion and another refused medical care, he said. Wogan said no inhabitants of the home were present when the fire began. Two cats, a ferret and a dog were rescued, though the dog, a German shepherd, escaped and has not been found, fire Chief David Haywood said. 'Our guys got him into a yard, but with all the chaos and stuff, they might have opened the gate and he might have got out,' Haywood said. The family was offered housing support from the Red Cross but declined, opting to stay with family, Wogan said. Families and individuals sat in nearby yards and on front steps Monday morning, shaded by umbrellas with the temperature above 80 degrees, as firefighters continued cleanup efforts into the afternoon, preventing traffic on the Vermont Street. Edward Castellano said police woke him early Monday morning, banging on the door of his home next door to the house where the fire started. He said a little before that, he believed he heard a loud sound but wasn't sure if it was a dream. 'I was in a deep sleep, and I thought I heard a boom, an explosion,' Castellano said. He said he guessed it could have been a car crash or something more minor than a house fire. Catellano, 55, said his home, where he lives alone, is uninhabitable due to damage to its foundation. He waited Monday morning at a neighbor's home across the street's front steps for his sister to pick him up. He said he felt sad recalling memories of his home that was passed down through relatives. He also said he regularly got his hair cut at Vanessa's Beauty Salon, which was vacated Monday afternoon. 'My grandparents lived there, and I grew up in this house too,' Castellano said. 'After school, I'd go there and watch cartoons and drink coffee with my grandfather, spend a lot of time there.'
Business Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Investors wooed with freebies at Japan's shareholder meetings
[TOKYO] More Japanese companies are giving gifts at annual general meetings (AGMs) in a practice that could increase the ranks of loyal retail investors as pressure from activist investors grows. The pickup in gifts, from collectibles to food, has been steady. A survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank showed 11 per cent of firms offered them at AGMs in 2024, up from 4 per cent in 2021. Companies that gave cash vouchers to vote totalled more than 120 last year, five times the level in 2019, an industry group estimated. Companies are seeking to build shareholder support as activists inundate them with an unprecedented number of proposals. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the government have called for an improvement of valuations and cuts to close ties with other firms in the form of cross-shareholdings. 'The underlying idea is to increase the number of 'fan' shareholders who will hold shares over the long term and vote favourably for management,' said Mizuki Suma, head of the legal & governance team at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo. 'When thinking of who to attract after cross shareholders go, it would be the retail investors, the fans.' Dan Castellano, a 51-year-old tech worker who has lived in Tokyo for most of his life, was disappointed when he did not see any gifts at last month's AGM of HUB, an operator of a British style pub chain. A free T-shirt or other collectible would have been nice, he said. But Castellano said he still has 25,000 yen (S$220) worth of HUB gift points that give him a strong incentive to hold its stock. The company offers the points based on the number of shares an investor holds. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'I get a HUB card for free drinks which I basically use to treat my friends and to kind of show off my shareholder status,' said Castellano, a follower of Warren Buffett's strategy of investing in understandable businesses. 'I like attaching myself to the company and being a shareholder is a way to do that.' Retail investors tend to vote in favour of the management, said Kunio Marutani, a researcher at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation. Some firms hope that through exercising voting rights, individual shareholders will develop a sense of participation in management and hold shares for the long term, he said. While some analysts point out that focusing on shareholder loyalty could distract management from improving corporate governance, the practice may get first-time equity holders more interested in the company's business. Takahiro Shinozaki, a 30-something construction professional who has attended dozens of AGMs in the past, said the meetings give him a chance to learn more about the companies. Shinozaki said he votes for management 90 per cent of the time. 'It's important to promote the right to participate in management decisions through the gift vouchers they provide,' said Shinozaki, who often takes a half-day off to attend AGMs. 'The proportion of individual shareholders will increase more and more in the future, and retail investors will have a lot more impact.' BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New York developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site
It's been 10 years since a New York developer first unveiled an ambitious plan to buy and redevelop the sprawling Herman Kiefer campus in Detroit. Today, the 38-acre hospital campus is still boarded-up — and still one of the last big, high-profile vacant sites in Detroit in need of a savior. The city says the New York developer fell out of compliance with a development agreement and missed a deadline this week to hand back title to the property. Detroit officials also want the developer, Ron Castellano, to return title to two abandoned former Detroit public schools buildings that are near the campus — the old Hutchins and Crosman schools. Castellano's firm, Herman Kiefer Development LLC, acquired the Herman Kiefer campus and those school buildings for $925,000 in 2018. As part of the deal, his firm also gained control over about 115 vacant houses in the surrounding Virginia Park neighborhood at the discount price of $500 to $1,000 apiece, plus another 375 vacant lots. The city contends that Castellano's firm has been out of compliance with the agreement since last year, and June 4 was the deadline to hand over the properties. Although the agreement calls for a refund of the purchase price to the developer in the event of such a "reconveyance," city officials claim that the site's unpaid property, water and sewerage bills exceed $925,000, so no money will be returned. On Thursday morning, June 5, the old hospital and its surrounding campus of red brick buildings appeared completely empty. The Free Press found a security guard and the property's manager outside, and the manager confirmed they have no tenants so far for the buildings. Luke Polcyn, the city's senior executive for development and economic transformation, said the developer's firm indeed missed this week's deadline to hand over the properties. More: Hotel operator NoMad chosen for Ford's Michigan Central Station in Detroit More: Rocket-Redfin deal clears hurdle with shareholders' vote 'That is not what the city bargained for when we did this development agreement,' Polcyn said. 'The expectation was we would have more progress by now.' Polcyn said he was reluctant to share what the city's next steps will be. "We're pressing our remedies and intend to enforce the development agreement,' he said. Castellano didn't return a message seeking comment Thursday that was left with the property manager. The developer has also struggled to meet the city's deadlines for rehabbing all of the vacant houses that were a part of the deal. Last year, 44 of the 115 or so houses had to be reconveyed to the Detroit Land Bank Authority, Polcyn said, and over 50 additional houses were transferred over to third-party developers to fix up. Polcyn said Castellano has been credited with rehabbing about 15 of the houses in the deal. The inclusion of so many houses in the deal was once a point of controversy in the neighborhood, as some residents felt frustrated by the initial pace of the rehab work and how at the time the houses were unavailable for others to buy and fix up. The controversy eased up as Castellano began working with local partners and community groups to get the houses done. As for the Herman Kiefer campus, Polcyn said the developer fell out of compliance on two counts of the development agreement: Failure to invest at least $20 million or activate at least 35% of the property by last year. Failure to make required annual investments of $2 million per year starting in 2023. 'We demanded reconveyance title to the hospital and schools, because of the defaults," he said. The Herman Kiefer campus has been vacant since Detroit's Health Department moved out in 2013. Castellano tried marketing the site as the Creative Commerce Campus Detroit, or C3D, but found Detroit's post-pandemic office space market to be challenging. Around springtime last year, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was said to be spotted giving a tour of the site to Detroit Lions President Rod Wood. Crain's Detroit reported that the Herman Kiefer campus was one option under consideration if the NFL team were to relocate its Allen Park training center to a new location. However, Wood said earlier this year that the team is now in the process of renovating the Allen Park center and has no plans to move. Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@ Follow him on X @jcreindl This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New York developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site
It's been 10 years since a New York developer first unveiled an ambitious plan to buy and redevelop the sprawling Herman Kiefer campus in Detroit. Today, the 38-acre hospital campus is still boarded-up — and still one of the last big, high-profile vacant sites in Detroit in need of a savior. The city says the New York developer fell out of compliance with a development agreement and missed a deadline this week to hand back title to the property. Detroit officials also want the developer, Ron Castellano, to return title to two abandoned former Detroit public schools buildings that are near the campus — the old Hutchins and Crosman schools. Castellano's firm, Herman Kiefer Development LLC, acquired the Herman Kiefer campus and those school buildings for $925,000 in 2018. As part of the deal, his firm also gained control over about 115 vacant houses in the surrounding Virginia Park neighborhood at the discount price of $500 to $1,000 apiece, plus another 375 vacant lots. The city contends that Castellano's firm has been out of compliance with the agreement since last year, and June 4 was the deadline to hand over the properties. Although the agreement calls for a refund of the purchase price to the developer in the event of such a "reconveyance," city officials claim that the site's unpaid property, water and sewerage bills exceed $925,000, so no money will be returned. On Thursday morning, June 5, the old hospital and its surrounding campus of red brick buildings appeared completely empty. The Free Press found a security guard and the property's manager outside, and the manager confirmed they have no tenants so far for the buildings. Luke Polcyn, the city's senior executive for development and economic transformation, said the developer's firm indeed missed this week's deadline to hand over the properties. More: Hotel operator NoMad chosen for Ford's Michigan Central Station in Detroit More: Rocket-Redfin deal clears hurdle with shareholders' vote 'That is not what the city bargained for when we did this development agreement,' Polcyn said. 'The expectation was we would have more progress by now.' Polcyn said he was reluctant to share what the city's next steps will be. "We're pressing our remedies and intend to enforce the development agreement,' he said. Castellano didn't return a message seeking comment Thursday that was left with the property manager. The developer has also struggled to meet the city's deadlines for rehabbing all of the vacant houses that were a part of the deal. Last year, 44 of the 115 or so houses had to be reconveyed to the Detroit Land Bank Authority, Polcyn said, and over 50 additional houses were transferred over to third-party developers to fix up. Polcyn said Castellano has been credited with rehabbing about 15 of the houses in the deal. The inclusion of so many houses in the deal was once a point of controversy in the neighborhood, as some residents felt frustrated by the initial pace of the rehab work and how at the time the houses were unavailable for others to buy and fix up. The controversy eased up as Castellano began working with local partners and community groups to get the houses done. As for the Herman Kiefer campus, Polcyn said the developer fell out of compliance on two counts of the development agreement: Failure to invest at least $20 million or activate at least 35% of the property by last year. Failure to make required annual investments of $2 million per year starting in 2023. 'We demanded reconveyance title to the hospital and schools, because of the defaults," he said. The Herman Kiefer campus has been vacant since Detroit's Health Department moved out in 2013. Castellano tried marketing the site as the Creative Commerce Campus Detroit, or C3D, but found Detroit's post-pandemic office space market to be challenging. Around springtime last year, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was said to be spotted giving a tour of the site to Detroit Lions President Rod Wood. Crain's Detroit reported that the Herman Kiefer campus was one option under consideration if the NFL team were to relocate its Allen Park training center to a new location. However, Wood said earlier this year that the team is now in the process of renovating the Allen Park center and has no plans to move. Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@ Follow him on X @jcreindl This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Developer misses deadline to give back Herman Kiefer site
Local Spain
19-05-2025
- General
- Local Spain
Why is Spanish called 'castellano' in Spain?
spanish language Have you ever wondered why the Spanish language is usually called Castilian or 'castellano' in Spain and not Spanish? The answer is down to geography, history and culture. If you've ever taken language lessons, Spanish will of course be called Spanish. But when you arrive in Spain, you'll find all the locals calling it castellano or Castilian instead. So why is this? Why do Spaniards have a different name for their own language? Firstly, Spaniards are distinguishing castellano – what foreigners know as Spanish, from the other four official languages in Spain. These are Catalan, Basque, Galician and Valencian. There are also more minority languages and dialects such as Aragonese, Aranés and Leonés. Secondly, it also differentiates between the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Latin America. Although they're the same language, there are many differences in the vocabulary, grammar and of course accent. Castellano or Spanish is the official language of the whole of Spain, but there are some other regions which have two official languages such as Catalonia, where Castilian and Catalan are used. Castellano is named after the Kingdom of Castile, which predates the existence of modern Spain. The territory occupying a large part of northern half of Spain is where the language was first spoken. It began as dialect spoken in this area and later became the language of the court of the kingdoms of Castile and León in the 12th century. Spain was not always one country with one official language, in fact it was made up of several different kingdoms. The unification of Spain began with the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón with Isabella I of Castile in 1496. This united the two kingdoms of Aragón and Castile – the two largest territories in the Iberian peninsula. At that time the Kingdom of Aragón included Catalonia, Mallorca, Valencia, Sicily and Sardinia, while the kingdom of Castile included Castile and León, Asturias, Galicia, Extremadura and then domains conquered from the Moors such as Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén and Seville. Castilian wasn't even close to being the majority language on the peninsula at this time, however. In Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Galicia, Asturias and the eastern half of Andalusia, it hadn't even been heard of. And only some people in León, Aragón, Navarre and the Basque Country knew it or were at least familiar with the Castilian language, as they were closer geographically. Even the people who all spoken Castilian in different areas of the country found it difficult to understand each other because of the change in dialects and accents. In 1492, Antonio de Nebrija - the most influential lexicographer and grammarian of his time - completed a book called Grammar of the Castilian Language. This was the first publication that actually pulled the Castilian language all together and set out its rules. This was also the year the same year in which the last Moorish stronghold of Granada fell to the crown. So, by this point, much of what we now know as Spain was coming together as one. Nebrija was a friend of Queen Isabella I, and as Castilian was already the official language of the courts of Castile, he was able to influence her to promote the language across the parts of the country she ruled along with Spain's other Catholic Monarch, Ferdinand of Aragon. Over time, through various power struggles between merchants and other influential figures across the country, Castilian came out on top as the most dominant language. It's important to remember, however, that it didn't become the dominant language everywhere – Catalan and Valenciano still reigned in the east of the country – as it still does to this day – and Galician and Basque were still used more in the north and northwest of Spain. This is why Castilian is often referred to as castellano in Spain. However, nobody will bat an eyelid if you refer to Spanish as español. Even Spain's Royal Academy of Language (RAE) has ruled that español and castellano are synonyms, even though in Spain castellano is a more official way of referring to what is known as Spanish to foreigners.
