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Show PACES m THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9. BUSCESS EDITOR l Grace Leoog Local Industry News & Notes Health Care Utah's 2004 employee hearth car premium costs up Businesses in Utah and Colorado saw a 17.5 percent rise on average in their health care premium costs in 2004, compared with an average increase of 17 percent in 2003 and 17.8 percent rise in 2002, according to a 2004 Compensation Data ColoradoUtah pay and benefits study by Compdata Surveys. "While companies in other states are realizing smaller increases, Colorado and Utah employers are still facing rising exists and must utilize methods to control and reduce health care expenses," said Amy Kaminski, manager of marketing programs for Compdata Surveys. The data was collected on more than 200,000 employees ranging to top executives in both states. from entry-levSome 54 percent of Utah employers tried to reduce health care premium costs by increasing the employee's portion of the health care premium, the survey said. Employers in Utah and Colorado also used other methods to lower health care premiums. Forty-fiv- e percent of them raised deductible levels, 25.9 percent increased the employee level, while 18.8 percent switched carriers. Fifteen percent of them offered a choice of deductible levels, 14.3 percent reduced the amount of benefits offered, and 4.5 percent implemented a managed care program. v v Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Gold Silver Final 10,313.36 -- 29.43 Final 1.850.64 --7.92 Final 1.121 .27 --5.03 Per ounce Per ounce $6,178 Appointments and bankruptcy, had served as a law clerk to Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre and Fourth District Commissioner Thomas Pattoa Jensen, a graduate of J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, also served as law clerk at the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah and the Orem City Attorney's office. Peterson, whose practice centers on business transactions, real estate issues and appeals, was former law clerk at the Utah Court of Appeals. Biotechnology Alpine company to distribute bacteria-killin- g products online biomedical technology American Biotech Labs, an Alpine-base- d company that makes ASAP Solutions or silver-baseproducts that help kill pathogenic bacteria and treat illnesses, will distribute those products online through a contract with JML Health Inc. of Austin, Texas. These products are EPA approved to be used as a surface disinfectant in hospitals and other medical offices. d y $399.40 . ,.$2.00 gle0n9Oheraldextn.com 344-291- 0 EXCHANGING . Y Euro British TKE.D0LLA1 109.35 109.25 $12191 $1.7892 pound $12098 $1.7743 I. 2876 II. 5850 I.2896 CanatSan dollar Mexican peso II.5880 Delta to cut 7,000 jobs Despite national trims, SLC hub to add 58 more flights Harry R. Weber el The Provo law firm of Provo law firm adds two attorneys Aldrich, Nelson, Weight & Esplin has added two attorneys, Mandy Jensen and Andrew Peterson. Jensen, who specializes in the areas of criminal kw family law a v 2004 Patty Henetz & . ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ' Delta Air ATLANTA Lines is axing up to 7,000 jobs, cutting employee wages and shedding its Dallas hub as part of a sweeping turnaround plan aimed at helping the nation's third-largecarrier cope with high fuel costs and competition from low-- f are rivals. But even with those changes, the Dallas-F-t. Worth's loss appears to be Utah's gain as the capital city's Delta Air Lines hub will offer 58 more flights by February, Delta officials announced Wednesday. "It's great news," said Barbara Gann, Salt Lake City's airport spokeswoman. "Our hub is strengthened." The 58 additional flights will include 13 more nonstop flights. Those flights' destinations aren't known yet, but "one goal is more international flights," Gann said. st Atlanta-base- d DONNA MCWIIUAMAsaaciated Press commuter jet, right, makes its way to a terminal at Dallas-Fo- rt Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, on Wednesday. Delta Air Lines' retreat from Dallas-Fo- rt Worth International Airport will reduce passengers' choices at one of the nation's busiest airports and throw more displaced workers into a weak aviation fob market. A Delta greater reach and more frequent air service. They will be going to new places from here as well as increasing frequency," Gann said. . While an ambitious airport master plan announced a few years ago has died, there will nave to be some changes made for Delta. "What we will do is incremental facility improve will give us to 7,000 jobs, pull back at its Dallas hub and reduce wages amid warnings it is still vulnerable to bankruptcy. The changes and forecast came as the nation's third-largecarrier continues to get hit hard by high fuel costs and ricompetition from low-farst Delta an- e nounced an ambitious "transformation plan" Wednesday morning, promising to lop up vals. The bad news holds promise for Salt Lake City, however. "It ments to accommodate this new traffic," Gann said. Salt Lake City International's peak travel years were in the 1990s and topped out at 22 million passengers. Now, the airport accommodates 18.5 million passengers annually. "So we have the room to increase," Gann said. It was unknown Wednesday now Delta staffing at the Salt Lake airport might be affected. . Gam said there could be an increase in line staff but a decrease in management. Delta employs about 4,000 here, Gann said. According to the announcement on Delta's Web site, the airline now has 318 dairy flights out of Salt Lake City. That will increase to 376 flights. The number of nonstop flights will increase from 67 to 80. ' CEO Gerald Grinstein also warned on Wednesday Delta would seek bankruptcy court protection if Delta can't slow the pace of pilot retirements by the end of September. Grinstein told reporters that he fears pilots could jump ship en masse because they are worried about their pensions and keenly aware of UAL Corp.'s threat to terminate the employee retirement plans at See DELTA, C5 Technology Greenspan: Economy software provider reports net income of $2.5M software for iMergent Inc., an Orem provider of small businesses, said its net income for the fourth quarter, which ended June 30, rose to $2.5 million or 20 cents a diluted share, from $1.6 million, or 14 cents a diluted share a year ago. Revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter jumped 82 percent to $25 million from $13.7 million in the same quarter of 2003. The company cited a rising number of training workshops conducted by the company and a significant rise in international sales. iMergent hosted 37 international workshops in the fiscal fourth , quarter, which generated approximately $4.9 million in revenue. "We are implementing programs to further raise sales productivity, leverage existing infrastructure, reduce our bad debt expense and increase recurring revenue," said Robert Lewis, iMer-gent- 's chief financial officer. has regained 'traction' THE 'v 1 r National briefing Company seeks approval for replacement heart The maker of the first BOSTON replacement heart is seeking approval to begin marketing the product for use on thousands of heart disease patients who are at a high risk of death. If approved, Abiomed Inc's application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would usher in the first commercial use of the device, which has been under development for 22 years, Michael Minogue, the company's chief executive and president, said Wednesday. d STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Yesterday's performance of selected puUidy traded companies SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE AA Alanine Abemon'Mnc 32.90 0.17 MYGN 25.05 0.11 NATO ABS SYM COMPANY ABX BarridcGold 1939-0.2- AEP AmerENdricPwr 32.87 021 NOVL AKj AmrMGnup 72.56 0.10 NUS AMGN 59.98 0.06 NWN AWE Amgenlnc America West HoUngs'B' AT&T Wireless Svcs BAC Bank of America 44.11 AWA NETM 023 640 PCG 5.78 0.16 2t65 026 29.04 PTZ Bli BAIL CORP 3824 0.64 Q QwsComiuitationslntl BIS BetSouthCop 27.07 039 RD Royal BN BantaCorp 38.92 008 S C Citigroup 439 SBC Sws,Roriuck SKCawnuntafais OAG CRESTED CORP SCOX SCO CMCSA Comcast CT A' 4682 028 .2824 St CVX DAL OmranTexacoCoip Delta Air Lhes D5 Disney (Walt) Co DNEX DkraGop 021 9930. 012 0.44 404 2239 020 48.46 045 ERJCY Eitason(lM)Tel'B'ADS 26.11 ETR 6036 K Entergy Corp Franklin Covey GDW Golden West GE GenlEhtfc 33t HCA HCAhc HUB Block (H&fl) 3920 4838 HSK SdienOiny) 63.95 IBM Intl Bus. Machines MTC Mel Com JCP AVN U.Q NoKbronvhc 39.09 KJtON Knmoslnc 43.47 LFB UN LongviewFbc UontTednoloojei SouthtwstArines MOt MCKESSON MER Menfl Lynch MTTr MrfYEnlHprtK 1233 339 1426 2638 5253 1640 MMSI Merit MectcalSystems MSFT MkrosoftCup MkmTedmiog) FH gjiiiiiiiniMr" - . ' ADR 034 32.77 0X3 48.56 0.17 237 0.08 40.06 130 0,14 SfltttM 2655 189 5821 SKO ShopkoStte 17.40 SKYW. SkyWesthc Group QUO 005 048 012 005 028 034 025 005 14.19 - 6149 Sent) Corp SPI Scottish Power 019 STA SttaJTawlffiGK 304 O09 STR QuestarCap SwftTrmportafon 40.40 ADS 2926 O95 SY Sybase Inc 032 005 T ATliTOip 1431 TGT 4581 019 UCL TatgetCotp Unocal Cop 1.15 UDR. 8536 089 UNH UnledHeaMl Group 6830042 19.72 0.17 USB UiBarewp 29.76 024- 3860 030 078 USEG 2.16 O01 USNA US. Energy Cop USANAHetWSdenoB 053 013 UTMD UMMcoUftoducft 3007 1475 044 020 NMjonOmmunta 43.42 tO.02 -- SWIFT Dominion - VZ ; IftyTr O13 015 044 039 3920 2051 014 004 019 WEN WfC Wendy's M Wets Fargo 35.76-047 435 O60 WMT WaMtetStoa 53.08 021 WM Write NuMtanMTA' 3.11 O07 033 X US. Sled 3830-05- Xctl Energy 2726 O10 XR SON 17J0 6245 11.15 003 -- . iwriiiiiiiiiiiii'rriiViliidiiin'rnwuinii v - K nni 2taBancom ' ' , j Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies on the; economy before the House Budget Committee Wednesday on, Capitol HUL Greenspan said the economy has "regained some , traction'' after a late spring slowdown that was triggered by a sharp spike in oil prices. ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress on Wednesday that the economy has "regained some traction" after a hill in late spring, reinforcing expectations of higher interest rates during the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Greenspan said the economic pickup Mows a "soft patch" caused in large part by soaring energy prices. "The most recent data suggest that, on the whole, the expansion has regained some trac-tionsaid the Fed chief, who offered rds latest thoughts on the economy in an appearance before the House Budget Committee. . The modestly upbeat assessment two months before Election Day comes as President Bush and Democratic John Kerry clash over the economy and jobs, kv" A Federal Reserve survey of the economic climate said activity expanded in Jury and August. Many Fed regions reported modest growth. The St ' Louis region, however.-saibusiness conditions were improving slowly; San Francisco reported solid gains. Consumer spending, the Efeblood of the economy, cent.. "The indications are that we are emerging from a soft spot and that Greenspan is giving a green light to another interest rate increase," said Ken May-lanpresident of OearView . . ' d, Economics. ," Incumbent politicians normally are unhappy if the Fed raises interest rates close to an election, , " But this time, many private , economists believe the Fed probably is helping Bush's campaign by signaling an intention to keep lifting rates. Such an approach supports the actaiinis-tration- 's view that the economy has begun to emerge from the recent slowdown, they said. On Watt Street, investors, looking past Greenspan's hopeful economic remarks, sent stocks lower. The Dow Jones mdustrials lost 29.43 points to dose at 10,313.36. Analysts say the economy, which grew at a 2.8 percent See ECONOMY, C5 5152-0.1- SNTO 1637-04. Dutch Penal 31.89-0.0- 1735 1320 10725 CORP . 0.00 1.74O05 Penney LU MU he 7 Nu Skin Enterprises' A' Northwest Natural Gas 0.16 PFE PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAttAssociatod Press 16.740.10 NetManagekK NnHIInc PG&E Cop P&er.hc Pulitzer he 1 i LAST CHANGE Myriad Genetics Nature's Sunshine Prod showed mixed results across the Fed's 12 regions. Economists viewed Greenspan's comments and the latest Fed survey as signs of a third rise this year in short-terinterest rates when Fed policymakers next meet, on Sept, 2L Economists expect the Fed to increase a key rate to 1.75 percent from the current 1.50 per- Jeannine Aversa 5930-07- , irif ihvriiiwiiiiiriiifciirttiiiiowijiiiitinTriiiiriiniriiirTriiiwirnriiinriiTrrriTfii 035 069 , Judge sentences Quattrone to 18 months Erin McClam THE NEW YORK Former star investment banker Frank Quattrone, who made tens of millions of dollars riding the Internet stock boom, was sentenced to 1 12 years in prison Wednesday for obstructing government probes of hot new tech stock offerings. US. District Judge Richard Owen ordered Quattrone to , surrender in 50 days, and granted a defense request to recommend that Quattrone be sent to a prison camp in Cali-fornia, where he lives. He also was fined $90,000 and sen- tenced to two years probation. " The judge enhanced the sentencing guideline range after - . be extremely detrimental'' . Quattrone's wife is chronically ilL and Quattrone's lawyers have said his daughter has' had psychological " , . problems. Owen said the impact on the family could be softened by its financial assets; the wife has ; $50 million and the daughter has $26 million in a trust fund The judge noted that it was not unusual that family mem- hers would suffer after a father and husband was convicted of a federal crime. "That's one het love you I can hold my head high right new because I know I'm innocent." , witness stand The sentence makes Quat-- , when he testtrone, 48, the most prominent ified he did Wall Street figure since junk-bon- d not intend to dealer Michael Milken to obstruct jus- - ', :' face time behind bars. tice. ProbaThe Quattrone case turned V tion officials on a that Quat-- ; hadreconv trone forwarded to CSFB mended five , bankers on Dec 5, 2000, en-- .: months in couraging them to ''clean up" , their files before the holidays. prison and five months Frank Quattrone Quattrone added: "I strongly home con- -. advise you to follow these pro-- ; hnement. ;. lirvabkiwtoachikL'hesaid. cedures." ; Before the sentencing, Quat- : Outside court after the sen- - " At trial, Quattrone claimed ' ; trone told Owen in a steady tendng, Quattrone looked into he was not thinking about on-- ; voice; "I humbly ask that you television cameras, his voice ." going government investiga- ' show mercy and compassion for breaking, and said To my tions when he sent the e4naiL me and my family, for whom , family in California, I'm com-in- g ' See home soon. I'm OK, and 1 .. any separation from me would QUATTRONE, C? the former Credit Suisse First Boston banker had Ked on the ASSOCIATED PRESS . -- 22-wo-rd . , : - , . |