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Show 1 I OV I I i. I 1 NEWS & NOTES THURSDAY. JULY 10. 2008 BUSINESSEDITORlGraceLeong-344-2910-gleongheraldextra.co- V Local Industry ' I 1 1 Dow Jones V V Nasdaa S&P500 Gold Silver Final Final 2.234.89 -- 59.55 Final Per ounce $927.30 $5.40 Per ounce 1,244.69 11,418.24 236.77 -- EXCHANGING -- 29.01 THE DOLLAR Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso $18.10 $0.22 Wednesday Tuesday 106.83 $1.5746 $1.9818 107.45 $1.5657 SI .9689 1.0202 10.3306 1.0111 10.3093 People On the Move CB Richard Ellis names new exec Tom Dischmann was named senior vice president of industrial properties with the Utah offices of CB Richard Ellis. Dischmann joined CB Richard Ellis in 1998 and specialized in the acquisition and leasing of industrial properties. In 1999, he was awarded the real estate brokerage's "Rookie of the Year" award and was promoted as a partner in 2000. Prior to joining CB Richard Ellis, he was an assistant account executive for Smith Harrison Direct, a Salt Lake City ad agency, and was responsible for its largest client ICON Health & Fitness, as well as Iomega and Easton Technical Products. SLC audio conferencing solutions company names new exec ClearOne, a Salt Lake City based provider of audio, video and Web conferencing solutions, named Mark Allen Fletcher its vice president of worldwide sales. He will report directly to Zee Hakimoglu, ClearOne's president, chief executive and chairman. Fletcher has more than 20 years of experience in the audio-visuand communications industries. He has served in senior management roles with companies such as Tand-berSamsys Technologies and Blue Water Communications. At Tandberg, he was responsible for the company's sales and marketing efforts in the Eastern United States, and helped execute partner contracts with companies such as SBC Communications, Verizon and Northrop Grumman. Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce elects new executive committee The board of directors of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce elected Miguel Rovira as chair of its board. Rovira is regional director for the Americas, International Trade and Diplomacy Office with the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Silvia Norman, vice president of Latino Banking for Wells Fargo, was named vice chair. Sergio Palacios, owner of Jass Building Property Services, was named secretary, while Jorge Fierro, owner and president of Rico Mexican Foods and Catering in Salt Lake City, was as treasurer. In addition, four new members joined the board. They include: Santiago Gonzalez, owner of Santiago's Office Bookkeeping and Taxes in Salt Lake City; David Utrilla, president of U.S. Translation Co.; Tony Grilz, sales director of Utah Idaho American Family Insurance Group and Duvan Botero, owner and managing partner of Club Karamba. Stalled projects back on track Zions Bank, Broadmoor scale back, citing construction costs, tighter credit Grace Leong DAILY HERALD After several months of lying fallow, two stalled office projects in Utah County are getting back on track, their developers scaling back to reduce construction costs. Lackluster preleasing activity in the face of a slowing economy, combined with high construction costs and tighter lending requirements, had put on hold the proposed Zions Bank tower in downtown Provo and Broadmoor Towers inOrem. Construction of the Zions Bank Financial Center, a The y planned Class A office tower on the northeast corner of 200 N. University Ave., was scheduled to start in the spring. But the project was delayed and is now expected to be completed by early 2010, said Cameron Gunther, owner and manager of PEG Development LLC. He said building will begin shortly but could not immediately specify a date. Likewise, slow preleasing activity forced the developers of Broadmoor Towers to scale back their plans to build an eight-stor- 136,000 square-foo- t Qass A office condominium project at 1600 N. 1275 West in Orem. Not-So-Friend- "In the last three months, the owners decided that construction costs for a three-storparking terrace and special foundation for the eight story building made the project too expensive. So we redid the y plan, and went back to a building. That saved us about $5 million in costs," said Jason Dodge, vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Provo. Orem city is expected to give its final approval for Broadmoor's rezoning and site plan on July 22. Construction of the smaller 78,000 squareoot project, now valued at between $15 million and $19 million, is expected to start in the next three to five months, and will be completed by the first quarter of 2010, Dodge said. To date, Security -- five-stor- Metrics, an Orem Web-base- d data security services provider, has agreed to lease 30,000 square feet as the anchor tenant, while Broadmoor developers are in talks with two other tenants to take about 15,000 square feet each, he said. "Because the developers shrank the size of the building, they now have additional land to build and develop restaurants and retail. About 18,000 square feet of retail is planned, but we won't start marketing until the office tower is built," Dodge said. "We'd like Magle-by'- s Fresh there." To cut costs, the Zions center is scaled down to a $33 million, 126,000 office tower includ- - eight-stor- square-foo- t See PROJECTS, C5 Skies ly ' 1 3 NATIONAL BRIEFING Housing rescue faces new delay in Congress WASHINGTON A federal mortgage rescue to help hundreds of thousands of homeowners avoid foreclosure is in limbo, with the Senate about to pass a bill that has no chance of winning House approval. Democratic divisions over small but significant details are delaying the plan, despite keen interest by lawmakers in both parties to enact election-yea- r help targeted to the housing crisis at the root of voters' anxiety. Complicating the picture is a White House veto threat. The measure is expected to pass easily as early as Thursday in the Senate, where it consistently has drawn support broad enough to overcome a veto. But then it will head back where it started, to the House, where leaders have made it clear they must rewrite key portions of it before it has any chance of passage. , '1 iV, " Airbus Eg) 1 AIR FCWlt Martha Stewart CEO Lyne steps down Susan Lyne, who rebuilt the Martha NEW YORK Stewart Living business in the aftermath of the namesake founder's legal woes, has stepped down as chief executive, and the job is being split between two company executives. The management changes come as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. navigates through a tough advertising climate and confronts a consumer, saddled with high gas and food prices, who may no longer be eager to replicate the home diva's lifestyle with all things Martha Stewart. House won't extend unemployment benefits The House on Wednesday narrowly WASHINGTON defeated a Democratic attempt to give unemployed Americans an extra three months of jobless benefits after the White House threatened to veto the bill. But Democratic leaders said they will immediately bring the bill back for a second vote on Thursday. Stocks of Local Interest Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies SVM COMPANY LAST CHANGE SYM COMPANY MU MICRON LAST CHANGE STEPHEN BRASH EAR Associated Boeing union workers protest the U.S. Air Force's decision to award a fuel Aerospace Machinists Union in Everett, Wash, on Feb. 29. Pentagon to tanker contract to Many lawmakers embraced the action, but analysts questioned the Pentagon's aggressive timetable. WASHINGTON The Government Accountability Office Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. will submit new last month detailed "significant errors" offers for a disputed $35 billion Air Force the Air Force made in the original award to the Northrop team. The GAO said Chicatanker contract,' and the Pentagon will go-based Boeing, which protested the pick a winner by the end of the year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said deal, might have won had the service not made mistakes in evaluating the bids. Wednesday that his office not the Air The Pentagon now will conduct a limForce will oversee the competition beited rebid that looks only at eight issues tween Boeing and the team of Northrop where government auditors found proband Airbus parent European Aeronautic lems in the initial process, Gates said. Defence and Space Co. The plan, which hands control to PenSea Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, where the Northrop team would tagon acquisition chief John Young and n comassemble its plane, called it "the best of all sets up a dedicated mittee, is the latest illustration of senior options" that would address the "minor Defense Department civilians lack of con- procedural flaws" the GAO cited. fidence in the Air Force's ability to manPresumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona age the contract. ASSOCIATED PRESS source-selectio- AA ALCOA - 31.54 INC 0.79 TECHNOLOGY 5.46 0.06 INC 0.03 0.00 MYGN MYRIAD GENETICS 53.26 0.21 GOLD CP 44.64 0.20 NATR NATURE S SUNSHINE 7.00 0.00 0.20 NOVL NOVELL INC 5.79 0.04 1.26 NUS NU SKIN ENT INC 15.32 0.07 0.47 NWN NORTHWEST 45.79 0.05 ABSY ABS0LUTESKY ABX BARRICK AEP AMER ELECTRIC AIG AMER INTL GROUP AMD ADV MICRO AMGN AMGEN BAC BK OF AMERICA BAM BROOKFIELD BLL BALL BMY BRISTOL MYERS SQIBB C CITIGROUP CMCSK COMCAST COST COSTCO CVX CHEVRONCORP P0W - 40.95 26.14 DEVICES - 5.06 NAT 50.85 0.47 OMTR OMNITUREJNC 19.08 0.08 CP 22.06 1.48 PCG PG&E CP 39.62 0.15 ASSET 31.04 0.20 PFE PFIZER INC 18.03 0.16 46.54 1.04 Q QWEST 21.55 0.10 RZ RASERTECH 16.44 0.95 SC0XQ SCOGRPINC 1836 0.42 SHLD 72.15 2.51 93.91 1.88 CP INC CL A SPCL WHOLESALE - COMM INTL INC 3.73 0.15 9.23 0.01 0.10 0.03 SEARS HLDGS CORP 72.54 3.53 Sll SMITH INTL INC 76.57 1.61 SKYW SKYWESTINC 12.23 0.78 0.00 DAL DELTA AIR UNES NEW 5.28 - 0.56 SNTO SENTOCORP 0.05 DIS WALT DISNEY 29.54 - 0.41 STR QUESTARCP 66.43 1.02 DNEX DIONEXCP 63.33 1.49 SY SYBASE INC 29.72 0.48 10.70 0.05 T AT&T 32.12 0.84 121.55 2.96 TGT TARGET CP 47.32 1.35 8.43 0.12 TRV THE TRAVELERS CO 43.50 1.11 GEN ELECTRIC CO 27.19 0.87 UDR UDRINC 22.25 1.40 HRB HR 23.86 0.32 UNH UNITEDHEALTH 22.93 0.35 HSIC HENRY SCHEIN INC 26.49 1.55 IBM INTL BUSINESS MACH 2.84 0.07 ERIC LM ERICSSON ETR ENTERGY FC FRANKLIN GE ADR CP COVEY CO BLOCK INC USB US BANCORP 3.48 USEG US ENERGY CORP 1.11 USNA USANA HEALTH SCIEN 27.52 3.44 - 0.08 UTMD UTAH MEDICAL PROD 27.06 35.52 - 2.31 VZ VERIZON 120.40 19.81 INTEL JETBLUE AIRWAYS JCP PENNEY JWN NORDSTROM LEE LEE ENTERPRISES CP J C CO INC AIRUNES LUV SOUTHWEST MCK MCKESSON MER MLCOCMNSTK MMSI MERIT MEDICAL MSFT MICROSOFTCP MERRILL 0.17 - 51.39 CP INTC JBLU CORP LYNCH SYS INC 3124 COMMUN 34.66 ' - 0.53 - 0.70 1.13 CP 14.29 U5 INTL INC 25 .21 2.03 23.71 0.96 1.30 WB WACHOVIA 3.30 - 0.30 WEN WENDYS &C0 13.45 - 0.50 WFC WELLS FARGO 55.43 - 0.92 WMT WAl 29.74 - 3.03 WNI SCHIFF NUTRIT INTL MART STORES 13.53 U7 X UNITED STATES STEEL 15.19 0.02 XEL XCEl ENERGY 2523 0.62 ZION ZIONS BANCORP INC 1 57.67 1.44 5.45 0.05 58.1 7 7.62 20.39 0.21 26.34 - 2.19 p Press file photo Grumman at the $35B tanker bid re-op- en Donna Borak THE Airbus-Northro- said Gates's plan reflected "careful consideration of the GAO's decision." McCain helped block an earlier scandal-marre- d tanker contract with Boeing and later pressed the Pentagon to change proposed bidding procedures opposed by Northrop and Airbus. Nick Shapiro, a campaign spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee commended the Pentagon's decision and called for a "fair and transparent" process in awarding the contract. Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said the company will review the latest Pentagon decision to make sure the provides a fair opportunity to present its proposal. EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois and said the company is prepared See TANKER, C5 Study: Gas cheaper in U.S. than in many countries Maria Dickerson pared with much of the world. "It's small consolation, I know," said Michael Shore, a Honked off by American senior manager at the consulting firm. But "the prices that pump prices? Cheer up. You could be commuting in Oslo, Americans are paying now, Norway, where gasoline costs Europeans have been paying for a long time." $9.85 a gallon and filling up And it's not just Europe. a Mini Cooper would set you back $130. People all over the world are That's the priciest petrol on shelling out more for gas than who are considAmericans a list of world gas prices released Wednesday by Associerably wealthier. That includes ates for International Research drivers in the East African nation of Eritrea ($9.46 a galnc, a Massachusetts-base- d relocation consulting firm that lon), Kenya ($5.94), Nicaragua tracks the cost of living in doz- ($5.07), India ($4.94), Chile ens of countries. ($4.85) and El Salvador ($4.70). In a more extensive study In fact, at just more than four bucks a gallon on avercompleted by the firm in age, U.S. gas is still cheap com March, consumers in nearly LOS ANGELES TIMES of approximately 150 nations surveyed paid heavily; others subsidize it to make it cheap. more for fuel than Americans Many countries chose the do. There also are motorists former. In the United States, who pay considerably less than state and local taxes account American drivers. The world's for about 19 percent of the avlowest-price- d erage price of a gallon of gas, gasoline can be h found in Venezuela, according to the Energy Information Administration. In Engwhere, at 12 cents a gallon, you can fill a Hummer for the land, where London drivers less than the price of a Big Mac are paying nearly $9 a gallon, taxes account for a whopping hamburger. 81.5 percent of the pump price. So why the big price differences around the world? European countries have long relied on hefty fuel levies Experts say retail gas prices to fund road work and social are influenced by a variety of programs, and to encourage factors, including the cost of conservation. The same is refining, distribution and martrue for some Asian nations, keting. But the biggest single variable is government policy: including South Korea ($7.33 a gallon) and Japan ($6.30) Some countries tax gasoline three-quarte- oil-ric- ML |