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Show PAGE 4 2007 SATURDAY, MARCH 3, BUSINESSEDITOR y V NATIONAL BRIEFING Toyota could face heat in Congress despite growth and success in the United States WASHINGTON From a high school auditorium near the birthplace of Elvis, Toyota was greeted like a hometown hero this week when it announced its eighth vehicle assembly plant in North America. Students cheered as the automaker showed off a Highlander sport utility vehicle that will be built starting in 2010 at the $1.3 billion plant near Tupelo, Miss. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour called Toyota Motor Corp. the "world's premiere auto manufacturer," and Sea Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, promised "when you are in our constituency, we are warriors on your behalf.'' Toyota's choice of Mississippi for a new plant should give it more clout on Capitol Hill. With Michigan-baseautomakers facing hardships, a few more members of Congress on its side helps as Toyota takes on some lawmakers who openly questionA'hether what's good for Toyota and other Japanese automakers is good for America. ANAHEIM, Calif. - Watch out, Mickey Mouse. The might be sneaking up on you. g Walt Disney Mup-pet- V Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Gold Silver Final Final Final 12,114.10 -- 120.24 2,368.00 1,387.17 -- 16.00 Per ounce $641.50 -- $20.8 Per ounce $12,845 -- $0,685 -- 36.21 Davis Crary THE gleongOheraldextra.com 344-291- 0 EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso Friday Thursday 116.75 $1.3191 $1.9433 1.1767 11.2072 117.58 $1.3198 $1.9605 1.1715 11.1503 s Oifldhood. "In the name of education, it promotes junk food consumption to a captive audience ... and undermines parents by positioning family visits to Pizza Hut as an integral component of raising literate children," Linn said. Linn's organization, hoping to capitalize on a surge of concern about child obesity and junk food, this week called on parents and educators to end their schools' participrogram Linn pation in the noted that many schools are trying to reduce students' access to soda, and said Book It should face similar scrutiny. But the program which has given away more than 200 million pizzas has g that's wrong with corporate-sponsore- d programs in school," said Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and Imagi-neerin- deep roots and many admirers at the highest levels of politics and education. It won a citation in 1988 from President Reagan, and its advisory board includes representatives of prominent education groups, including teachers unions and the American Library Association. "We're really proud of the program," said Leslie Tubbs, its director for the past five years. "We get hundreds of from alumni who praise it and say it helped them get started with reading." Dallas-base- d Pizza Hut says Book It is the nation's largest reading motivation program conducted annually in about 925,000 elementary school classrooms from h Oct. 1 through March 31. A program is offered for preschoolers. of the Campaign for a Commercial-Fre- e , ASSOCIATED PRESS You've read the book,; NEW YORK now eat the pizza. Since 1985, that's been the gist of Pizza Hut's Book It, an incentive program used by 50,000 schools nationwide to reward young readers with free pizzas. The program is now under attack by experts who say it promotes bad eating habits and turns teachers into corporate promoters. Book It, which reaches about 22 million children a year, "epitomizes everything this week debuted its latest, cuttincreation: g-edge V Grace Leong Critics denounce Pizza Hut reading program theme park with robots Disney V I two-mont- g, interacting Mup-pet- s capable of "seeing" and "talking" to tourists - and without a human puppeteer in sight. Disney's most mi -- Wall Street woes v.. ad- vanced robotic creation to date makes the costumed, mute Winnie the Poohs and Donald Ducks seem like felt covered relics, although Disney executives are quick to reassure that the beloved, ff sheplerlos Angeles Times and his cast sidekick Beaker, part of the autograph-signin- g isn't going anywhere. Mobile Mupper Laboratory, pke "This is an incredibly and chat with guests at Disney's compelling and powerful California Adventure theme park. way to experience the characters," said Bruce Vaughn, vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering's research and development division. "They are fully aware of the people in their presence and can call you by name. It is a 100 percent live experience." L0RI J Dr. Bunsen Honeydew ""Si a: f i 7 f I India to outsource paperwork India has taken thousands of American jobs through outsourcing. Now it's giving a few back. The Indian government plans to outsource processing of visas (visitor documents, not the credit cards) from its embassy in Washington, D.C., to an American-basecompany. A top embassy official wouldn't say whether the 40 staffers who do the jobs now would be laid off. Many of them are Indian nationals. d Qwest founder Anschutz to sell shares DENVER Qwest Communications founder Philip Anschutz has agreed to sell all but a handful of his remaining shares of the company, accprding to filings with the federal regulators. He sold 2.7 million shares outright for $24 million and is receiving a prepayment of $150.5 million from a private contract to sell 20.6 million shares in 2010, according to documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Anschutz is diversifying the holdings of his investment company, said his spokesman, Jim Monaghan. What constitutes discrimination wasn't the RENO, Nev. onty question at issue in a recent civil lawsuit four black Texas men brought against Walgreen Co. in a Nevada courtroom. The definition of workplace violence also was up for grabs as lawyers tried to prove that, in addition to violating their clients' civil rights, the giant drug store chain was guilty of negligence in its hiring, retention and supervision of its employees. Discrimination is "a very subjective concept," Washoe County District Court Judge Janet Berry said during the last month's trial that included seven days of testimony. Indeed, the jury took only 45 minutes to decide Feb. 13 that Walgreens did not discriminate against the four men from Houston during a visit to a drug store in Reno in 2003. Stocks of local Interest Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies SYM COMPANY LAST AA ALCOA INC ASSY ABSOLUTIST ABX BARRICKGOLDCP AEP AMER ELECTRIC AXi AMER WTL AMD ADV MICRO DEVICES AMGN Amgtninc BAC BK BU BALI C OTIGROUPINC CRAG CRESTED CORP CMCSK Comcast Caporation Of INC NEV P0W GROW CO INC CP WALT DNEX BBC Derm Corporate! LM EncBOfl Msphor ETH ENTERGY C CP he 0.55 NETM NetMaiage, NOW. Novel, 28.47 4.80 NUS NU SKIN ENT INC 44.87 460 NWN NORTHWEST 69.54 2.13 0MTR Omrakiclnc 14.1B 4.61 KG PGM CP 61.75 44.05 PTE PH2IRINC 437 4554 444 Q QWEST RZ RASER TECHNOLOGIES 49.97 1.11 SCOX SCO SHLD 66.79 4.03 4.12 481 33.95 444 61.75 5.20 645 Inc. 16.74 436 447 4566 499 24.79 425 168 406 4344 NAT GAS IS. 76 COMMINTLMC INC he (The) SenHoUnp Tim 4.98 177.10 SkyWestht. 24J9 487 SNTO S 2.04 4.09 4.93 SPI SCOTTISH POWER PLC 58.81 439 34.72 428 SWFT SwAInreporMonCo. 30.78 0.03 9625 231 SY SYBASE 24.43 4 50 Corporation WC 1922 437 USB C 1141 431 USEG HOLWN 7881 1.14 USNA S241 122 UTMO 3928 O03 VZ 3644 427 6143 40.13 50.58 4.64 Tht TRAVELERS CO UNtTtDQOMWRLTYTR 31.74 4.49 UNTTEDHEALTH GROUP 5418 1.44 US BANCORP 3539 411 525 425 Ui Enw Corp. UVMAHMWSdinoBlnc5&79 1.94 Utah Mrfti PioducB R5899 O00S VERCON COMMON 3648 462 COVEY CO 7.48994.1701 T AT&TNC 4.13 TGT TARGET CP TRV 51.40 425 434 90.90 137 UNH HR8 HR NC KSC ftenySdxhlnc. DM WTL BUSINESS MACH MTC htH Corporate) JRU Kf IrtBlut Always PENNEY JC CO JWN NORDSTROM NC UDR KMON KimUnooporatd LEE LEE ENTERPRISES 31.46 4 64 WB WACHOWCP 54.77 LFI L0NGVKWR8KEC0 401 WEN WCNDYSMTIMC 3133 414 WfC WELLS FARGO 4.71 WMT WAL MART STORES WNJ SOW NUTWT X IMTED LUV SOUTHWEST MtK MOCESSONCORP 2459 1520 5465 MFR MCOCMNSTK 82.18 MOT MrnrEf!? ARLMES 1.58 r9259941599 lMtlka1Syinlne.t2.6l 430 MkrawR CnponM 27.76 433 MU MOON MYGN MyAadGwrfttlnt NAT! NATURES TECHNOLOGY SUNSHINE 1143 1.19 11J5 OjB WTI STATES ENERGY CO NEW STtU K ten hnnponfcn DON ' r ' 444 448 34 44 42 4781 175 408 405 8641 172 2329 425 KM 019 i f U 3U3 XCEl L 8 tocks stumbled in the final session of a tumultuous week Friday as the yen rallied against the dollar and concerns about the U.S. Neil Massa, senior trader at MFC Global Investment Management, said stocks wobbled Friday after the yen broke through a key resistance level of 116.80. The dollar fell 0.92 percent to 116.86 yen Concerns lingered about a decline in the yen carry trade, economy still dogged investors after Tuesday's huge drop. The which refers to the process of Dow Jones industrials logged borrowing yen to acquire assets with greater yields in other their worst weekly performance in more than four years. currencies. A slowdown could hurt liquidity worldwide. ConThe Dow, as it had Thurscerns about Japanese interest day, poked tentatively into positive territory Friday before rates also weighed on investors. A profit report retreating as the yen furthered its gains and investors failed to from American International shake their unease. Group Inc. kept the Dow industrials from falling further Larger economic concerns such as the ascendent Friday; the insurer and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. yen have dominated Wall Street for much were the only two advancers of the week after Tues-- , among the index's 30 stocks. day's worldwide selloff Merck, which received a mixed that sent the Dow down verdict Friday in a trial over 416 points and rattled its former painkiller Vioxx, investor confidence finished up 20 about the state of the U.S. economy. d 03 SKYW 3487 2155 MSFT 1 4.S7 FRANKUN NEW YORK -S- PRESS 421 41.12 GEN ELECTRIC CO Paradis ASSOCAITEO 1.04 Groi SMTffllNTlINC GE MMS1 003 0.26 025 SI PC BLOCK LAST CHANCE O.01 2524 CORP CHEVRON DtS COMPANY 0.21 2.63 CVX SYM 32.70 50.01 CP AMERICA OUNCE ' . , Press LENNIHANAssociated MARK i Dow posts worst performance in more than;4 years THE Workplace violence an issue in Walgreen case u. :. at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 2, 2007 in New York. Stocks fell in the final session of a tumultuous week as the yen rallied against the dollar Friday and concerns about the strength of the US. economy still - 5 Weighed on investors following a plunge in stocks early m the week. A trader wipes his brow i cents at $44.19. The Dow fell 120.24, or 0.98 percent, to 12,114.10. The Dow has fallen seven of the last V eight sessions. Broader stock indicators also felL The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 16.00, or 114 percent to 1,387.17 and the Nasdaq composite index slid 3&21or 1.51 i at a more.than two month high r "I thing looking at the world , economies as a whole it just seems like growth is slowing across the board, or at least that's the impression," Massa Thursdajr". 'iil said.'f:W.-,':v. Diahe"Dercher,'chief economist at Waddell & Reed, said i $ ; investors are trying to sort through the myriad signals the markets have given off this week. "Fundamentally, I dont think a lot has changed this week and I think it's been more of a percent, to 2,368.00 For the week, the Dow fell 4.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 4.4 percent and the Nasdaq fell 5.9 percent. For the Dow and the S&P 500, it was their biggest weekly point drop since the week ended July 19, 2002. And for the Nasdaq, it was the poorest weekly showing since the week ended Sept. 21, 2001, the first week of trading after the 911 terror attacks. Bond prices rose sharply as economic concerns lingered and raised hopes for an interest rate cut. of psychological risk and a lot of this is focused around what's happened in the Asian markets," she said. There is a renewed focus on how weak the economy is going to be and the data that we've gotten this week have been very mixed and that just adds to The yield on the berichmark corifuskm," Dercher said. Investors seemed unfazed by Treasury note fell to 4.51 the final ReutersUniversity of percent from 4.55 percent late Thursday. The dollar was mixed Michigan consumer sentiment reading for February, even as it against other major currencies, fell to 9U from 96.9 from Januwhile gold prices fell sharply. Light, sweet crude settled -- ary. Earlier this week, the Conference Board said Its own meadown 38 cents to $61.64 per barrel on the New York Mer ' sure of consumer confidence cantile Exchange after settling reached a 9 12 year high, . i ' i - '. v ; i. GM sued over defective s oeedomet ers JL David ty period. Zwicker had bought an extended warranty, so he SfATTLt TIMtS paid $ 100 for new speedomKevin Zwickcr eter rather than the usual $400 SEATTLE to $500 cost. knew something was wrong But now Zwicker, who lives when the speedometer on his in SnohomLsh, Wash., is the 2004 Chevy Suburban indilead plaintiff in a federal lawcated he was going 10 mph, even though he was driving at suit seeking damages on behalf of potentially thousands of or near the speed limit. Zwicker's sredomcter people. The lawsuit, filed last failed completely In April 2006. week in U.S District Court in But General Motors did not Seattle, could potentially cover replace it for free because the all Washington residents who y truck was outside the standard bfflight GM trucks and three-year- , 30.000-mil- e vehicles from 2003 to warran Bower-maste-r sport-utilit- 2007, and who have had to replace defective speedometers. . Zwicker, 48, considers himself a "savvy driver," but said It was uncomfortable driving without knowing how fast he was going. "1 dont think it's fair that major manufacturer such as GM can let something like this go by, and not give it some serious thought, Zwicker said. A nearly identical suit was filed this week in US. District Court in Oregon on behalf of John Hall, who paid $42750 '" in January to fix a defective speedometer on his 2003 CMC Envoy LE. The lawsuits in Washington and Oregon are seeking n status, according to Beth Terrell, an attorney with the Seattle law firm of Tousley Brain Stephens, who is representing Hall and Zwicker. They cover five Chevrolet models: Avalanche, Silverado, Suburban, Taboe and four GMC models: De- r, nali, Envoy, Sierra and and Cadillac Escalades. class-actio- , Trail-blaze- r; Trail-blaze- |