OCR Text |
Show PAGE 6 2007 TUESDAY, MARCH 6. BUSINESS EDITOR National Briefing Logan utility wants coal-fire- d Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Gold Silver Final Final Final 12,050.41 2,340.68 --27.32 1,374.12 -- 13.05 Per ounce $636.70 -- $4.80 Per ounce $12,640 -- $0,205 V THE DOLLAR EXCHANGING Friday Holiday 116.37 $1.3098 $1.9224 1.180 11.1637 Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso 116.75 $1.3191 $1.9433 1.1767 11.2072 d prices fall more than $1 a barrel Corporations squelch urban legends Pig fat in ice cream, not supporting Iraq are some of the many rumors hurting ousinesses "Once it's on the Web, it's like taking the rods out of a reactor," said Chris head of U.S. crisis management for firm Hill & Knowlton. the "Companies have to work harder to deterMelissa Allison world of and blogs, creating a dimine, 'Do we need to worry about this?" " THE SEATTLE TIMES lemma for some corporations that face the Overreacting can call more attention never-endintask of setting the record to a rumor than it gets on its own, Gidez SEATTLE Ever get one of those said. "I've had clients who wanted to restraight. purporting that Starbucks doesn't Many have pages on spond to a problem with guns blazing, and their Web sites and monitor what is said I say, 'Hold on a second. You might be support U.S. soldiers, or that Coca-Col- a has randomly chosen you for a cash prize? about them on sites like Snopes.com and telling a larger universe of people about a How about the tale that there's pig fat in Wikipedia.com. Despite those efforts, the problem they didn't know existed.' " e McDonald's ice cream? same myths and untruths can circulate for Rumors fry fast and die hard in the See RUMORS, D5 years. z, public-relatio- g rumor-respon- Oil prices lost more than $1 a barrel Mon NEW YORK day on continued concerns over stock market declines and an indication by an OPEC official that the cartel won't cut production at its next meeting. Light, sweet crude for April delivery tumbled $1.57 to settle at $60.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the contract dropped as low as $59.55 a barrel, dipping below $60 for the first time since Feb. 28. Brent crude for April also fell $1.54 to settle at $60.54 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. U.S. V gleongOheraldextra.com 344-291- 0 m coal-fire- Oil V --63.59 The city's utility chief is recommending a long-tercontract for power from a central Utah plant. Other communities, especially in California, are backing out, searching instead for electricity made from a cleaner source. But the director of Logan City Power and Light said his utility needs power and could save millions over three decades by investing now. "Whether or not Logan participates or does not participate at all will not change the fact that it's going to be built," Jay Larsen said. "Does Logan want to take advantage of the many years of investments we've made in that plant or not? That's really the bottom line," he said. Intermountain Power Agency plans to build a power plant, its third, in Delta and will pay for it by signing long-tercontracts with cities across the West. Thirty three have signed up, Larsen said. Grace Leong V power LOGAN I se soft-serv- Litigation High-Stak- es stocks close lower as global woes continue U.S. stocks closed lower Monday, giving up NEW YORK as bargain-hunter- s were fragile gains seen among unable to offset pressure from fresh woes in global markets overnight and concerns in the distressed subprime mortgage markpt 1 t ""I r I i.:i- A. a vuicuuc ruici session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average first fall 70 points and then rise by 80 points, the Dow industrials finished down 63 points at 12,050, weighed by the likes of Alcoa Inc., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., McDonalds Corp. and AT&T Inc. Only six of the Dow's 30 stocks remained positive, PETER MORGANAssociated Press including Hewlett Traders work on the floor of the New Packard Co., IBM York Stock Exchange on Monday. and Coca Cola Co. "We haven't gone low enough to justify 4 a turnaround, but maybe some people are trying to test support levels," said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of the U.S. equity group at Deutsche Bank. v.' blue-chip- s, i. -- t . ' '.. A i. tk V ... t as.. ' ;w 4, V T'':nOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA !S AN ORGANIZED June 18, 1934, as amended: and ,, V iN T" I3E f ;A:;uf z Tribal :il ofthe Semin' z of Hard roc C the purcs d the; wo i ;nci. . oridaciM " v Jt ' fOVFC ndi. r as; no ou... Radio companies to pay $12.5 million fine WASHINGTON Four of the nation's largest broadcast radio companies have agreed to pay a combined $12.5 million to settle a federal investigation into practices and will provide thousands of hours of free airtime to local musicians and independent record labels, sources familiar with the agreement said Monday. Details of the settlement are being worked out, and the Federal Communications Commission still must approve it. Under terms of the agreement, Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. would pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the FCC. The companies allegedly received money, airline tickets, clothing and other gifts from major record companies to play certain songs. jft.:Mig "pay-for-pla- LA, RE C.NTATIVE & R. CrES.S U.NOL RE.PRESENTA Utah company hires senior energy official K Z. 'lre4 XVV.. SALT LAKE CITY Energy Solutions, a Utah company that owns or manages radioactive-wast- e sites, said it hired a senior government official as its top lobbyist in Washington, WILFREDO LEEAssociated Press DC. Jill Sigal, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, will become senior vice president of government relations. In a written statement Monday, Sigal said she wants to help Energy Solutions become a "successful global nuclear firm." Seminole Tribe of Florida chairman Mitchell Cypress poses during a signing ceremony on Monday in Hollywood, Fla, to mark the tribes $965 million purchase of the Hard Rock cafes, hotels, casinos and music memorabilia from The Rank Group PLC. Seminole close on Hard Rock deal Jon Burstein said Alan Kluger, an attorney for the tribe. By settling with Cordish and Power FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. The Sem- Plant, the Seminoles remove a potential inole Tribe of Florida and the developer sore point for its future bond ratings, acof its two Hard Rock hotel and casino cording to financial analysts. The better the bond rating, the more favorable loans complexes have reached a tentative $765 million deal that will end a web of bitter, the tribe's businesses can get as they exs litigation. pand. The settlement calls for the tribe to pay It will be a busy week for the tribe. The $231 million in $10.5 million annual pay- Seminoles closed Monday on their $965 ments for the next 22 years and loan an million deal to buy the Hard Rock Internaadditional $525 million to Baltimore-base- d tional Inc. chain from London-baseRank Cor dish Co. and Us affiliate Power Plant Group .PLC, in what is thought to be the Entertainment, according to a Standard largest single acquisition by an American & Poor's Indian tribe. That deal will give the tribe rating services statement. The a global presence in the hotel and restauagreement could be signed by Friday, with lawyers still Ironing out the details, rant industry as well as the world's larg SOUTH FLORIDA STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies SYM COMPANY AA ALCOA INC ABSY ABSOLUTESKY LAST CHANGE SYM COMPANY 0.97 NAIR NATURE S SUNSHINE 0.20 001 NETM 31 .73 INC LAST Inc. CHANG! 11.80 0.05 5.20 0.00 ARX BARRK3CG0iDO 27.87 060 NOV! NetManagei Now he 631 0.14 AEP AMER ELECTRIC POW CO 44.30 057 NUS NU SKIN ENT INC 16.64 0.10 AKj AMER INTl GROUP 69.28 NWN NORTHWEST 42.49 095 AMD AOV MICRO 026 4.23 OMTR Orrriture. he. 15.66 0.10 AMGN Amgeninc BAC BK BLL BAUCP C CITIGROUP CBAG CRESTED CORP CMCSK Comcast Corporation CVX CHEVRONCORP DrS WALT DNEX Dctw Corporation ERIC LM Of INC 13.95 DEVICES 62 1599 AMERICA CP INC C PCG PG&E CP 452S 0.41 037 PFE PFIZER INC 24.70 0X 45.02 0.52 0 QWEST 49.25 0.72 R2 RAStR TECHNOLOGIES 2.48 0.15 SC0X SCO 25.15 009 SHLD Stars 6643 0 36 S SMITH INTl WC 41.02 33 72 0.23 SKYW SkyWHthc StmoCorpoutwi 2470 SPI SCOTTISH SWFt Swift Transportation Co, SY SYBASE INC T AT&T TGT TARGET TRY THE TRAVELERS CO UDR UNITED 4O 097 3438 033 ETR FC FRANKLIN GE GEN ELECTRIC HRB HRBIOCKWC HSK HmySdMLhc IBM WTl INK hM Corporation JBIU JCP JptfAu Airways PENNEYJCCOHOLDIN IWN NORDSTROM KRON tarns hcoporMd LEE LEt LFB LONGVIEWflBRE 95.58 7 COVEY CO 65 0.67 012 032 2080 075 51.23 016 9181 4 91 34.55 CO BUSINESS 4099 4964 6081 Ericsson Tttephont ENTERGY CP MACH ENTERPRISES CO 11.58 77.50 5049 3900 3073 0.33 U1 09 MU MtTYEnlrprwshc tOOJ MMpdka1Syslpmvhc1268 Mnotoft Corporation 27.549902101 MCRON TECHNOLOGY 1167 416 MYGN Myriad Gmrta RLTY TR WTNOYSWTIWC 7997 2.19 188950.3649 32U1J999 084 30.75 O.03 35.72 0.23 0.72 59.79 Alt 4050 U1 UNITEDHEALTH GROUP 52 96 22 US BANCORP 3514 OH US. Energy Corp. 5.06 0.16 USArUfeaMiSdtnctshlKU 016 0OMW WIN MfTY MSFT CP WACHOVIA MICOCMNSTK 58 04 24.20 WS il 064 2.08 003 086 010 0.19 004 he WC Utah Mtdcal Products MER MMSI POWER PLC VERIZON O 0.09 1.01 177.96 Hottnoj V7. SOUTHWEST 0.16 4 89 WC (The) 8 MCKESSON 15 he UTMD 0.73 24 60 4001 54.01 USEG Group, 8.52 INTl WC USNA LUV AIRLINES 158 C0MM 1.92 MCK CORP SNTO UNH 191099-0110- INC NAT GAS C0MMUN CP I CO NEW WFC WELLS FARGO WMT WAL MART STORES WW SOW X UNfTtD XEL XCE flON fail UwporMon NUTWT KTl STATES STEEL ENERGY WC 51.08 30.53 3613 OJS 5394 483 3080 0.SJ 3403 441 4747 4J4 668 407 84.96 1 OS 2211 441 8372 122 - high-stake- d est collection of music memorabilia. Since opening three years ago, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino complexes near Hollywood and Tampa have become huge moneymakers for the tribe, generating more than $500 million . in annual profit, court records show. The current contract calls for Power Plant to receive 30 percent of the net gaming profit over 10 years and 30 percent of the hotel profits over 15 years. The tribe filed a federal lawsuit in May against Power Plant seeking to break what the Seminoles called an "illegal and unconscionable contract" with the development company. The Seminoles argued See SEMINOLE, D5 Forecast: Chance of long taxiway delays likely teslit THE Miller ASSOCIAT10 PRESS - WASHINGTON Your chance of being stuck on a stuffy airliner for hours on a taxiway, likepassengers on recent JetBlue flights, increased last year. Passengers on 7,405 planes spent at least two hours and sometimes much longer out on airfields waiting to takeoff. Travelers sat for two to five hours on 7,369 departing flights after leaving the gate and for more than five hours on 36 others. The total was up from the previous year's 6,715 but still well under the record 8,115 of the year before that. "Two other planes were parked for more than five hours after landing, reported the government's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Complaints by passengers kept for hours on parked jets within the past three months in New York, Chicago and Austin, Texas, have reignited demand for a law that forces airlines to let people off planes if they've been sitting on runways for more three hours. "There is one bottom line that will create consistency and a lack of confusion among the general public that's a passenger bin of rights," said Kate Haruii, a California real estate agent who recently formed the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights. Hanni and her family spent more than eight hours aboard a grounded American Airlines plane at Austin Bergstrom International Airport after their flight was diverted from Dallas due to weather on Dec 29. On Valentine's Day, passengers on 10 JetBlue airliners spent from five to 10 12 hours sitting on runways at John F. Kennedy International Airport because of icy weather and gate congestion. See DELAYS, D5 |