News roundup: Graves named LRA's Restaurateur of the Year … Retailers seek to cash in on mobile-payment trend … Study: 26 U.S. companies paid more to CEOs than in taxes

Published Aug 16, 2012 at 10:00 am (Updated Aug 16, 2012)

The sun's not yellow, it's chicken: Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers founder and CEO Todd Graves has been named the 2012 Louisiana Restaurant Association's Restaurateur of the Year. The award is the LRA's highest honor and is given annually to "an individual who has contributed unselfishly to the advancement of Louisiana's restaurant industry and has continually dedicated his services at both the local chapter and state levels." Read more about LRA's selection of Graves for this year's award here.

Skip the middleman: With more shoppers wielding smartphones instead of credit cards or cash to pay for purchases, some of the nation's largest retailers and restaurants are trying to wrest control of the fast-emerging mobile-payment industry away from technology firms. The Los Angeles Times reports that more than a dozen companies, including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Sears, say they're teaming up to develop their own walletless platform, including an app, that will enable tech-savvy customers to quickly pay for goods with their smartphones. Get all the details here.

They've got the fruit, we've got the rind: Twenty-six large U.S. companies paid their CEOs more last year than they paid the federal government in tax, according to a study released today by a liberal-leaning think tank. The study, by the Institute for Policy Studies, says the companies, including AT&T, Boeing and Citigroup, paid their CEOs an average of $20.4 million last year while paying little or no federal tax on ample profits, according to regulatory filings. On average, the 26 companies generated net income of more than $1 billion in the United States, the study says. The Associated Press has the full story here.

Today's poll question: Do you think the Metro Council should OK an ordinance that would require for-profit, door-to-door solicitors to purchase a $5 permit, as Councilman Rodney "Smokie" Bourgeois is proposing?