TNO June 27

For Hall of Fame baseball writer Jayson Stark , there's a shortlist when it comes to the greatest inventions of his lifetime: the iPhone, the microwave and Baseball Reference, part of the Sports Reference group of websites that's revolutionized how people follow sports.?

Jeff Blumenthal?with?Philadelphia Business Journal?takes us into the Summit Presbyterian Church ?in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, where mathematics professor (and University of Iowa alum) Sean Forman presides over a company that annually generates $10 million in revenue and 1.5 billion page views. There he talks about how his journey, as well as considerations about adding special sections for sports betting, why he has no plans to move the websites behind a paywall, and a new subscription service he dubs the "Bloomberg for sports."

"I’ve grown in confidence in my ability to kind of lead the company and the quality of the ideas I have,” Forman said. “To some degree, I basically just decided to start listening to myself more and trusting that the ideas were good ones and that they would succeed going forward.”?

Other top stories from around the ACBJ network:

1. U.S. companies have been preparing for Friday's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade since the leaked draft of the decision in early May, with?prominent names in Silicon Valley ?and?Portland, Oregon , announcing what this means for employees. Meanwhile, the CEO of language-learning platform Duolingo Inc. said he'll?consider growing the company elsewhere ?if Pennsylvania politicians rescind abortion rights in the state. The ruling also poses a?sensitive predicament for major corporations in Texas , or those considering expanding to the state. They are often courted by the state's top political officials, although many have articulated stances on abortion rights and LGBTQ issues that clash with the positions of social conservatives.
2. Transportation Insight LLC is relocating its headquarters to Dunwoody, a growing suburb of Atlanta.
3. Malcolm Jenkins knows all about tackling tough opponents, spending 13 seasons as a hard-nosed defensive back in the NFL. Now the 34-year-old Super Bowl champ's lined up a new foe: the lack of diversity in the craft spirits industry. Take a look at this feature from?Philadelphia Business Journal's Laura Smythe , who explains how Jenkins teamed with Millstone Spirits Group to launch a new whiskey sourced exclusively from ingredients produced by Black and Brown farmers.
4. A?divided Texas Supreme Court (5-3) ruled that Texas Central Partners LLC has eminent domain authority?to build a $30 billion high-speed bullet train between Dallas and Houston .
5. Facebook still dominates the social-media advertising landscape for small businesses — but TikTok is coming up fast .?
6. Following the Omicron variant peak this past winter, many companies seized the moment, implementing an office return, at least a couple days a week.?But after an uptick observed this spring, office-space usage has mostly flattened in the past several weeks, prompting the question of whether current space usage is the actual new normal, or whether more ground will be made up in the coming months. The Business Journals' Ashley Fahey examines the numbers from office-usage trackers to see where the trends may be heading.
7. Janet M. Stovall believes diversity, equity and inclusion work should be actionable instead of aspirational. As global head of DEI at the NeuroLeadership Institute, she views diversity as a numbers game that can be quantified by the bodies in the building. Inclusion, she said, comes from the intentional work that an organization must do to make sure that diversity is leveraged. As for equity, that's what we should all be heading toward. “I see those as the ‘what,’ the ‘how,’ and the ‘where we're trying to go,’” Stovall told?The Business Journals'? Marq Burnett . “The way it’s actionable is if you look at it in those terms –– you can hire people and get diversity, you can be intentional about inclusion, and if you do that, you will be intentional enough to make equity.

1. Be his guest: Paul Mishkin thought he wanted just a small Franklin farm. Instead, the Chicago trader built this luxury getaway , at $3,500 a night, that could pay dividends in the Tennessee's Williamson County.
2. "People are talking about Kansas City in Europe," said Jessica Berman, the National Women’s Soccer League commissioner, after?watching the opening of the Kansas City Current's new training complex — the U.S.'s first?dedicated to a women’s professional soccer team.
3. Arranging for van service for new hires lacking transportation. Providing steel-toed shoes. Making available a multi-faith space that practicing Muslims can use for daily prayer breaks. These are some of the ways Husco International has worked to make the new staff of Afghan refugees feel comfortable.
4. Many employers saw the trends and budgeted for larger (3.9% ) raises in 2022. That still may not cut it for many employees — especially when it's far from what they could fetch on the open market.

Built by Eric Mandel. Reach me with tips, questions and feedback at [email protected]