News and notes from around town:

UPDATE: Many of you are curious about the future of Lawrence’s Best Buy store after the electronics retailer announced today that it will be closing 50 stores across the country. Well, we’re curious too. According a report from the Associated Press, Best Buy hasn’t yet finalized a store closing list, so there is nothing specific to report about the Lawrence location.

Best Buy is moving to a smaller store format, and the Lawrence store is smaller than most, so perhaps that will be a plus for Lawrence. But, of course, the company likely will look at store performance too, and it is hard to say how the Lawrence location has performed relative to its peers. We’ll keep an ear open for word out of Best Buy and pass it along as soon as we hear it.

UPDATE: While we’re trying to see the future, we might as well gaze a bit at local cable provider Knology. A report out of Denver indicates that Englewood, Colo.-based WideOpenWest is considering making a bid to buy all of Knology’s cable operations, including the business here in Lawrence.

As we passed along last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Knology — based just outside of Atlanta — was seeking potential buyers.

This new report by Dow Jones indicates that WideOpenWest, which operates under the brandname WOW, is considered the most likely buyer for Knology, at the moment. WOW has about 1.4 million cable subscribers in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Knology has about 800,000 customers.

As you may remember, Knology purchased Sunflower Broadband from The World Company — the owner of this Web site and the Journal-World — back in October 2010.

We’ll try to check in with Knology and report back.

• Lawrence shoppers continue to be in a good mood. The latest sales tax report from Lawrence City Hall shows that for the seventh straight month local retail sales are higher than they were during the same period a year ago.

The March sales tax distribution report indicates taxable sales in Lawrence totaled about $115.1 million for the month, up from $111.5 million for the same period a year ago. Sales were up about 3 percent for the month.

Because of the lag time in the state’s sales tax reporting system, the March report represents sales made from roughly mid-January to mid-February. In other words, we’re not even close to seeing the boost from t-shirt sales, party platters and new diamond necklaces purchased as part of KU’s Final Four run. (What??? I was told that was tradition.)

The numbers mean the city’s bank account is off to a good start. Sales tax collections are the largest part of the city’s general fund. For the first three months of the year, the city has collected $7.53 million in sales taxes, up from $7.24 million during the first three months of 2011. Sales tax growth for the year is right at 4 percent.

For all of 2011, sales tax collections in Lawrence grew by 4.3 percent. It is still early in 2012, but if these early returns hold true, it will mark the first time since 1998 and 1999 that taxable sales in Lawrence have grown by more than 4 percent for two straight years. That would be the strongest sign of a local recovery yet.

For those of you interested in more numbers, here’s a look at how the first quarter 2012 sales totals stack up against the first quarter totals of the last five years. The numbers in parentheses are the sales in 2012 dollars. In other words, I’ve adjusted the sales totals for inflation.

2012 – $346.62 million ($346.62 million)

2011 – $333.27 million ($337.31 million)

2010 – $309.17 million ($322.79 million)

2009 – $327.92 million ($347.98 million)

2008 – $334.76 million ($353.98 million)

Even adjusted for inflation, 2012 is doing pretty well, although local sales haven’t yet clawed their way back to 2008 levels. But we’re closer than we’ve been in quite awhile.

• All you Warren Buffett types out there probably already know this. (By the way, don’t confuse Warren Buffett and Jimmy Buffett. My portfolio took a real hit the year that I did.) But anyway, Berry Plastics — which has a major manufacturing plant in Lawrence — filed paperwork recently to become a publicly traded company. It is seeking to raise $500 million in capital through a public offering.

The daily newspaper out of Evansville, Ind. — where Berry is based — has a good article on the filing. A company seeking to go public generally is good financial news. I suspect this case is no different, but the recent filings do show just how much debt the company has and how many losses the company has been enduring recently.

According to the Evansville report, Berry at the end of 2011 had $4.6 billion in debt and about $29 million in cash and cash equivalents. During that same time frame, Berry posted a net loss of $247 million. The company, according to the paper, has incurred net losses of over $100 million per year for four out of the past five years.

But part of the debt is attributable to a buying spree that Berry has been on to solidify its standing in the plastic products business. Berry, reportedly, has bought 10 plastic packaging businesses in the last five years. The company now has more than 16,000 employees and 88 manufacturing facilities.

The company — which bought the Lawrence Packerware business years ago — has made Lawrence a focus of its strategy. As we have reported several times, that huge building you see under construction on the north side of Interstate 70 west of Lawrence is a new warehouse and printing facility for Berry.

Berry needs more warehouse space in Lawrence to create more room in its existing manufacturing/warehouse facility in the Santa Fe Industrial Park in northern Lawrence. Berry’s Lawrence plant manufactures a new line of environmentally friendly, light-weight plastic drink cups that have been producing good sales in the marketplace. Local economic development leaders are hopeful that once Berry completes its new warehouse, that the company will use its new-found space at its existing facility to increase production and job totals.

Regardless, if you want to own a piece of one of the more important manufacturers in Lawrence, you’ll likely soon have the chance. No word yet on when the company will begin the public offering or what ticker symbol or exchange the shares will trade under.

• Basketball isn’t the only sport that will draw thousands to downtown Lawrence this week. The sport of drinking … I mean running … also will.

Sunday will be the 18th annual Brew to Brew Relay, which involves folks running from Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Mo., to the Kansas River levee in North Lawrence. Then, of course, many re-hydrate at Free State Brewery in downtown, which hosts the awards ceremony and a dinner. If you want to see the entire route, click here. My understanding is that one route will require runners to pull themselves across Stranger Creek near Linwood with a rope and an aluminum fishing boat.

Over the last 17 years, the Brew to Brew event has raised more than $250,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

In total, 3,500 runners are expected to descend upon downtown Lawrence on Sunday. Retailers, stock up on the crimson and blue spandex.