Morning Links: 21 November 2008

LifePoint in talks to sell two hospitals, Gabelli keeps the faith in Gaylord, Vandy research says private prisons help save money, and more...

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

In refiling its latest 10-Q, LifePoint (Ticker: LPNT) says it is in talks to sell two money-losing hospitals in Louisiana and Indiana.

Credit Mario Gabelli and his team at GAMCO Investors for sticking to their guns: From Nov. 7 to Nov. 18, they added almost 670,000 shares of Gaylord Entertainment (Ticker: GET) as the market bodyslammed the stock from $14.94 to $7.28. After further drops since, Gabelli's new holdings are sporting a 31 percent loss.

The USPTO has granted BioMimetic a patent covering the making of its key regenerative tissues, a landmark CEO Sam Lynch says is one of the "most important accomplishments" in the company's (Ticker: BMTI) history.

Vanderbilt researchers – funded initially by CCA – say states benefit financially from competition between public and private prison operators.

An explosion and fire at Delek Holdings' Texas refinery has injured several workers and shut down production. (Here's the company's update.) The refining segment of Delek (Ticker: DK) generated 45 percent of the company's profits in the first nine months of the year.

Rahul Gupta, an assistant professor at Meharry and Vanderbilt, has been offered the executive director job by the Charleston-Kanawha Board of Health in West Virginia.

The CEO and CFO of Brentwood-based PetDRx (Ticker: VETS), which runs veterinary hospitals, received stock option grants worth $315,000 and $250,000, respectively.