Show 625-424- vfww 4 standard net 6B Standard Examiner Hiran—m'mriwi fm ion - Saturday August 2001 1 1 anti-smokin- g e Liberty Media leaves AT&T phone giant the unemployment line economic times the unemployment line may past as states begin to automate unemployment claim processes over the telephone and the Internet States that take initial claims over the Internet ming unit to operate as an independent company in- terests in hundreds of TV channels cable and satellite systems and media companies H Some of its invest- ments include Starz Encore Group The Discovery Channel AOL Time Warner and the Home Shopping Network The company was acquired in March 1999 as part of AT&T’s purchase of Inc the cable TV empire built by Liberty chief executive John Malone No plans states are the way people seeking States that take initial claims over the telephone greater loss US Airways Group Inc piling on a month of bad news beginning with its collapsed merger with United Airlines said Friday it post a wider than expected loss of more than $160 million for the third quarter because of drooping business travel will scores of angry claimants complained when the phone system played a steady soundtrack of busy signals The Arlington airline the nation’s sixth Va-bas- and unanswered rings The problems have eased since then But a surge in jobless claims - up 40 percent nationwide compared to this time last year - marks the first big test for the new systems “There are going to be people who are going to lose out on unemployment benefits just because the technology is not going to be able to handle the volume” said Maurice Emsellem of the National Employment Law Project an advocacy largest said it will lose twice as much in the third quarter as Wall Street had expected first-tim- e The company will take a pretax charge of about $405 million in the quarter to write down the value of its fleet of Fokker 100 Boeing 737-20- 0 and MD-8- 0 aircraft Polaroid Corp restructures debt unemployment checks gathered outside state unemployment offices group for Sometimes the lines were workers lengthy Colorado pioneered the But now unemployment offices in many states are all change to telephone-baseclaims in 1991 as a but empty The move is on measure and 23 to handle unemployment states have followed The claims by phone or in the case of 10 states over the pace has picked up in the Internet past two years with 24 more states Washington DC and Many claimants say the Puerto Rico working to systems save time but as install more companies cut jobs systems for initial claims many of the newly The move to unemployed are discovering the change and it is fueling systems was intended to frustration save money as it did for Colorado but it hasn’t In Pennsylvania where worked out that way for the state moved to most states claims last fall CAMBRIDGE Mass -Polaroid Corp announced Friday it had received a extension on loan waivers and secured creditor status to its bondholders to help facilitate debt restructuring The instant photography company which has been negotiating with bondholders also pledged two additional properties in Massachusetts as security against bond and bank debt low-inco- one-mont- h d r The marriage between Liberty and AT&T was difficult because Malone and AT&T executives couldn’t agree on strategy LiberThe Englewood-basety had been a division of the phone giant though investors had been able to trade in its shares through a tracking stock that reflected Liberty’s performance The shares of the two classes of tracking stock were with the two exchanged new classes of Liberty stock two-yea- cost-cuttin- d g phone-base- d phone-base- AP SOURCE Information Technology Support Center phone-base- d wmunmpmmm For Friday d POCATELLO Price Index of finished goods 100 Lower gasoline prices influence July decline The Associated Press WASHINGTON - A sharp drop in the costs of gasoline and other energy products helped drive down wholesale prices in July by the largest amount in eight years With inflation low Federal Reserve policy-makewill have more leeway to continue reducing interest rates in their effort to avert a recession when they meet on Aug 21 economists said The 09 percent plunge in July’s wholesale prices reported Friday by the rs 2001 AP Labor Department came after a Fed survey of business conditions around the country that suggested the economy had stalled in June and July Against the backdrop of that gloomy report and the inflation news some economists said they were not ruling out a cut in interest rates in August although many believe the Fed will opt for a more conservative quarter point cut “The Fed has a free hand to do what is necessary to overcome the sluggishness in the economy a 50 basis-poicut would not be unreasonable” said economist' Joel Naroff president of half-poi- Na-ro- ff Economic Advisors d The bigger-than-expecte- slide in last - White wheat 3 00 (steady) barley 420 (steady) 14 percent spring 318 (up 2) ordinary Wholesale prices drop most in eight years Producer prices Here is a look at the Producer Bureau of Labor Statistics The Associated Press Internet The change means the end of the unemployment line at least the way many people remember it During past downturns Accept claims Planning claims system Considering claims system Airline expects Unemployment offices trying out new methods handle unemployment compensation They’re closing offices and moving those services out of centers and they're asking laid-of- f workers to file initial claims by telephone or over the CASTLE ROCK Colo- - AT&T Corp completed its spinoff Friday of Liberty Media Corp allowing the television program- 1982 - phone it in Most The Associated Press Seasonally adjusted smoke-fre- e Kids an anti-smoki- A familiar sight in slow become a thing of the Telecommunications firm media company not good match Liberty’s holdings include president of the Tobacco-Fre- e Don’t stand in line lYying to avoid ©Hess 15 years ago according to government research Workers in the Midwest and South group in Washington DC - the regions where most tobacco is “There is a direct correlation be- grown - generally reported the fewtween a community and a state enact- est smoke-fre- e workplaces while ing strong laws to protect workers those in the Northeast and West had from secondhand smoke and the the most number of workers who this study Donald Shopland lead author of fmds are protected” Myers said the study published in the Journal of Nearly 70 percent of employees Occupational and Environmental workworked in businesses that had smoke-fre- e Medicine defined a smoke-fre- e policies in 1999 up from 46 per- place as one where smoking is forbidcent in 1993 according to the study den in public spaces and work areas Only 3 percent of workplaces were including individual offices Matthew Myers Campaign for ered by policies - 84 - followed by Maryland Calipercent - Many more fornia Massachusetts and Vermont WASHINGTON Americans are working in smoke-freto the study which was offices but whether the air around according based on responses from 270000 their desks is clear largely depends workers nationwide on the state in which they live according to a study by the National Those states have strong state or Cancer Institute released Friday local laws restricting smoking in Utah has the most workers cov workplaces or public spaces said The Associated Press SOURCE at 195647 smitis-it- o Utah among the states doing much better at this than others 2000 at rnniii (geawawi mati© worldwide A 11769 1041625 NASDAQ V 685 DOW BUSIN Business Editor winter month’s Producer Price Index which measures price pressures before they reach store shelves followed a 04 percent decrease in June and marked the largest decline in wholesale prices since August 1993 277 OGDEN (down 1) - White (steady) 14 percent spring 306 (steady) 11 percent winter 316 (up 5) PORTLAND “The collapse in energy prices is good news for consumers and for producers and gives the Fed a lot of elbow room to keep lowering interest rates as needed” said Stuart Hoffman chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group One of the reasons the Fed has been able to cut interest rates six times this year by a total of 275 percentage points is because inflation hasn’t posed a risk to the economy wheat 320 (steady) barley 420 - White wheat 356 (steady) barley 96 0 (up 1 to down 1) 14 percent spring 398 (down 1) 11 percent winter 360-36(down 1 to steady) 5 CALDWELL - White wheat cwt 473 (down barley 450 (steady) - Standard-Examine- 2) and wire services igniaanzzi nfpMiff) Here is a look at the PE ratio and projected ratio for several blue chip stocks Shown are name PE jected PE last pnce daily net change and change m PE pro- ' staff r i Futures nt price NYMX New York Mercantile Exchange CBOT Chicago Board ot Trade CME a Cbeago MercantSe Exchange NYBT New York Board ot Trade Listings of mutual funds can Dilbert be found in the Sunday Standard Examiner By Scott Adams |