Ralph Opacic, founder of Orange County School of the Arts and now chief executive of Orange County Music & Dance, says arts education keeps losing when budgets tighten, and argues that funding built to survive a downturn matters more than any single grant or gift. A Pattern He Has Watched for Decades Santa Ana, California, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Ralph Opacic founded Orange County School of the Arts in 1987, during a period when school districts across California were cutting arts programs to protect core academic budgets. He has watched the same pattern repeat in every downturn since. “When money gets tight, arts programs are usually the first line item someone circles,” Opacic said. “That’s true in public schools and it’s true in nonprofits. It isn’t because people don’t...

The Dallas fund manager says the questions an investor asks before writing a check matter more than the pitch they just heard. A Different Starting Point Dallas, Texas, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Gary Bassett, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Partner of HP Capital Partners in Dallas, Texas, has spent more than four decades moving through investment banking, enterprise software, and institutional asset management. He built that path at J.P. Morgan, founded and scaled Microbank before its sale to Citicorp, and led an investment banking division at Bank of America before launching HP Capital Partners in 2012. Across those decades, he says the investors who do well are not the ones with the best spreadsheets. They are the ones who ask a short list of plain questions before they commit mon...

Andrew Dutil lays out what he expects to change in project controls and contract administration over the next year, and where that leaves people managing public works contracts. A Harder Year for Cost Estimates West Palm Beach, Florida, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Andrew Dutil has spent his career on the owner and contractor sides of civil works contracts, most of it tied to the US Army Corps of Engineers. He expects the coming year to put more strain on cost estimates than usual. Material pricing has not settled into a predictable pattern. Dutil says that unpredictability shows up first in change orders, where both sides have to agree on a number before work can keep moving. When the baseline price keeps shifting, that agreement takes longer to reach. “A change order used to be a for...

Alaa Jaber, a self employed business man based in St. Louis, Missouri, writes to others who work for themselves about the parts of the job nobody else sees. To Anyone Who Clocks in Alone St. Louis, Missouri, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, If you are self employed, you already know the strange math of it. No one tells you when you have done enough for the day. No one sets your hours but you, and no one else feels it when a week goes sideways. I have been doing this long enough to know that part never fully goes away. It just gets more familiar. I am not writing this to hand out a system. I do not think there is one. I am writing it because I think a lot of people who work for themselves carry things quietly that are worth saying out loud. The Quiet Weight Nobody Warns You About When you w...

Ryan Basnaw, CEO of Axsus Civil Development Company in Idaho, shares the truths behind common construction management misconceptions. Why Construction Myths Persist Idaho, USA, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Construction companies lose thousands of hours each year to outdated beliefs that sound logical but fail in practice. These myths spread because they are easy to repeat and hard to challenge without real-world evidence. Ryan Basnaw, CEO of Axsus Civil Development Company, has built his career on testing assumptions and replacing guesswork with systems that work. He developed PM Axsus, a construction management platform designed to address the gaps left by traditional methods. Below, he corrects five myths that continue to mislead contractors. Myth One: Documentation Slows Down Projec...

Dr. Kurt Hatch, retired Professor of Practice and Faculty Director of the Educational Administration program in the School of Education at the University of Washington Tacoma, pushes back on the common rule that fairness means treating every student the same way. Washington, USA, November 11, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Dr. Kurt Hatch says that rule is where a lot of good intentions quietly go wrong. Sameness is easy to measure and easy to defend in a meeting. It is also, in his view, a poor stand-in for fairness. “If two students arrive with different needs and you give them the identical response, you have not treated them equally,” he says. “You have just made sure the gap between them stays exactly where it started.” Hatch points to multi-tiered systems of support as a case where this gets set...

Miami, FL 33166, United States, 11th Nov 2026 – Pullner, a specialist manufacturer of filter cartridges and housings, has introduced capsule elements for industrial filtration buyers. According to the company, each capsule seals a pleated filter element inside a molded polypropylene body, so that the filter and its housing form a single disposable unit. Pullner lists the capsules for use in microelectronics, pharmaceutical, water and printing applications. Pullner describes itself as a manufacturer rather than a trading company, with a 15,200 square meter ISO 9001 factory in Shanghai. The company states that the site has more than 30 production lines and produces more than 4,000 elements a day. Pullner also makes filter cartridges and housings (link pending) for customers in the United St...

Chicago, IL 60638, United States, 11th Nov 2026 – Lontto, an established manufacturer of block, brick and related construction machinery, has announced a broader range of hollow block production equipment for buyers in export markets. According to the company, the range lists 17 models, from mobile units that need no pallet to fully automatic hydraulic machines built for higher daily output. Lontto states that the machines are made at its factory in Yinan County, Linyi City, in China’s Shandong province, and shipped by sea from Qingdao. The company says it has more than 30 years of experience and more than 1,000 employees. Lontto supplies block and brick making equipment (link pending) alongside mobile and compressed earth block machines, AAC block plants and concrete batching plants. Hol...

HSH Design Inc. is a family-owned kitchen and bathroom design center located in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The company offers a wide range of quality products, including kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, countertops, flooring, tiles, faucets, fixtures, and decorative hardware. It provides personalized design assistance to homeowners, contractors, and commercial clients, helping them plan functional and attractive renovation projects. HSH Design Inc. serves Wilmington and nearby communities, including Arlington, Woburn, Lexington, Concord, and Middleton, with a focus on quality products. Wilmington, Massachusetts (MA), United States, 11th Nov 2026 – HSH Design Inc., a family-owned and operated kitchen and bathroom design center in Wilmington, Massachusetts, continues to support homeowner...

Hartwell Site Solutions provides professional excavation, site preparation, drainage, hardscape, and landscaping services for homeowners and builders in Massachusetts. From walkway installation and retaining walls to septic excavation and foundation preparation, the company delivers practical outdoor construction solutions focused on quality workmanship, proper planning, and long-term property functionality. Homeowners in Maynard, Leominster, Bolton, and Lunenburg can rely on its services for residential construction and outdoor improvement projects. Leominster, Massachusetts (MA), United States, 11th Nov 2026 – Homeowners and builders looking for dependable excavation and outdoor construction services can turn to Hartwell Site Solutions for professional workmanship, reliable project suppo...