News Desk | Page 856 Of 893

General Dynamics gets $29.8M Navy deal

News

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27 June 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Navy on Wednesday awarded a $29.8 million contract boost to a unit of General Dynamics Corp. for maintenance and repair on the USS Texas battleship.

General Dynamics’ subsidiary Electric Boat Corp. will provide alterations and testing on the ship as part of an effort to correct deficiencies on one of the oldest battleships left since World War I.

The company will perform the work in Groton, Conn., and is expected to be completed by February 2008.

Shares of General Dynamics rose 44 cents to $78.43.

Lawsuit ends over boy-pilot’s acne drug

News

Sam Allcock

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27 June 2007

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Relatives of a 15-year-old boy who crashed a stolen plane into a skyscraper in 2002 have dropped their lawsuit that blamed an acne drug for his suicide, saying they were physically and emotionally unable to pursue the claim.

U.S. District Judge James Moody dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday at the request of lawyers for Julia Bishop and Karen Johnson, the mother and grandmother of Charles Bishop.

The boy’s death gained international attention as images were broadcast of the stolen Cessna protruding from the Bank of America Plaza downtown, four months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Inside the plane, Charles left a note sympathetic to Osama bin Laden.

Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., the maker of Accutane, contended Charles was a troubled young man and his use of Accutane was not to blame for his suicide. Court papers filed by the company say the boy’s parents tried to carry out a suicide pact before he was born, and his mother had numerous bouts of depression.

Hoffman-La Roche contends Accutane is safe, but recommends users be screened for depression. The Food and Drug Administration said it has 234 reports of suicide among Accutane users worldwide from 1982 to December 2003.

Hoffman-La Roche Inc., based in Nutley, N.J., is the United States prescription drug unit of the Swiss drug maker Roche Group.

Raytheon details dispute over $2B deal

News

Sam Allcock

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27 June 2007

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Raytheon Co. on Wednesday sought to explain its rationale for protesting the Army’s recent decision to award rival bidder L-3 Communication Holdings Inc. a $2 billion cargo plane contract.

The Waltham, Mass-based company said it does not want the Army to re-compete the contract, but to explain why it selected a more expensive plane and did not give more weight to maintenance and other long-term costs in its appraisal of bids.

‘We really didn’t get a good explanation as to those decisions,’ Jim Hvizd, a Raytheon vice president said. ‘We felt there were errors in the way that some of the various sub-factors were evaluated related to our proposal.’

Raytheon filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office on June 22, more than a week after the Army awarded the contract to New York-based L-3’s team to build up to 78 cargo planes.

Raytheon said the Army’s own evaluation found its C-295J aircraft to be 15 percent cheaper than L-3’s C-27J. Moreover, had the government considered fuel efficiency and other long-term factors, the price difference would have been even greater, Hvizd said.

Hvizd said Raytheon raised other issues in the protest, but declined to provide additional details.

While both companies make twin-engine turboprop planes, L-3’s C-27J is considered larger, heavier and more technologically advanced than the C-295.

The L-3 plane costs slightly more than the cargo plane Raytheon offered, but it has performed better on short runways, flying longer distances without refueling and is bale to hold more weight.

Analysts had been expecting L-3’s team, which includes Italian partner Finmeccanica SpA’s subsidiary Alenia North America Inc., Boeing Co. and Global Military Aircraft Systems to beat Raytheon. For its part, Raytheon teamed up with CASA, a subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. NV.

The new planes will replace the C-23 Sherpa, a 23-year old cargo plan built by Short Brothers Plc, the C-36 and some of the C-12s, as well as other transport aircraft, such as Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook, which the Army has been using for battlefield support operations.

The C-23 has several drawbacks to meet the needs of U.S. soldiers in the field, including the inability to fly at high altitudes, limited cargo space and a lack of defensive systems.

The Army plans to purchase up to 145 planes that support tactical missions, such as delivering supplies and deploying soldiers in combat.

Shares of Raytheon fell 26 cents to $53.88 in midday trading, as shares of L-3 rose 40 cents to $97.68.

Bankruptcy filings rise in 1Q

News

ABC Staff

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27 June 2007

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Bankruptcy filings rose by 66 percent nationwide in the first quarter, according to government data that analysts say are partly a reflection of the fallout from the housing market slump and rising household debt.
Filings for the three months ended March 31 rose to 193,641, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Business filings rose nearly 54 percent to 6,280, while personal cases surged more than 66 percent to 187,361.
In the 12 months ended March 31, the number of bankruptcy filings dropped by more than 61 percent to 695,575, though the data were skewed by a change in the law. Filings in the year-ago period were unusually high because of the pending Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which went into effect in October and made filings more difficult and expensive.
The full-year statistics ‘still capture the distortion effects’ of the reform, said Sam Gerdano, executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Bankruptcy Institute.
Still, Gerdano expects monthly filings to remain about 50 percent higher than a year ago for the remainder of 2007. Rising mortgage defaults and foreclosures, as well as higher overall debt burdens on households, make it ‘inevitable that there is going to be an increase in the numbers … people looking to bankruptcy as a way out of their financial problems,’ Gerdano said.
Consumer groups in April called on Congress to reform bankruptcy laws that give mortgage lenders a higher priority than most other creditors and make it easier for families hurt by the cool housing market to file for bankruptcy and keep their homes.
For the year ending in March, business filings dropped nearly 38 percent to 21,960, while personal filings fell almost 62 percent to 673,615, according to the federal courts data.
Filings under Chapters 7, 11, and 13 all fell, while only Chapter 12 filings rose slightly to 372 from 366 in the year-ago period. Chapter 12 is an extension of Chapter 11, which protects companies from creditors’ lawsuits while reorganizing, and applies to family farms.
Proponents of the legislative change can say that despite a quarterly increase, filings are well below the levels of the decade leading up to it, while critics will note that more people with financial vulnerability ‘need bankruptcy as a safety valve,’ Gerdano said.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

W.Va. Internet among nation’s slowest

News

Sam Allcock

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25 June 2007

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Downloading a large file off the Internet in West Virginia? If so, don’t make any other plans; it could take a while.

A new national study says Internet connection speed in the Mountain State is slower than everywhere else, except Alaska. The same file that takes 15 seconds to download in Rhode Island takes more than two minutes to download in West Virginia.

The report, issued by the Communications Workers of America union, is based on data collected on the Speed Matters Web site. Visitors to the site could take a test to determine how fast their Internet connection speed is, and the study is based on results from more than 80,000 users.

West Virginians have a median download speed of 1.12 megabits. That’s not terrible considering the national average is 1.97, but it’s far behind the jackrabbit-like speed of Rhode Island, the fastest state, with 5.01 megabits. But even Rhode Island pales in comparison to countries like Canada, with 7.60 megabits, or Japan, fastest in the world at 61 megabits.

Although West Virginia’s neighbors fare better, many of them are still in the bottom half of the country in Internet speed, with Ohio ranked 40th, Pennsylvania at 33 and Kentucky just ahead at 32. Maryland and Virginia did better, coming in at 10 and 11, respectively.

The union warns that slow Internet speeds will dull America’s edge in competition with other countries as the Web becomes an even more important aspect of commerce.

‘We are behind, not just as a state, but as a country,’ said Elaine Harris, spokeswoman for the union in West Virginia.

Sen. John Unger, co-chairman of the Legislature’s select committee on broadband access, said West Virginia will only improve by extending high-speed service throughout its borders and creating more demand for faster access. In today’s economy, he said, there’s no excuse for doing otherwise.

‘You can have all the nice roads and welcome signs you want, but if you don’t have the infrastructure and the demand for high-speed Internet, we can’t do business,’ he said.

Unger sponsored a bill earlier this year approved by the Legislature that he said would have helped accomplish those goals. Gov. Joe Manchin vetoed the bill, though, after getting an offer to help the state improve broadband access from Cisco Systems CEO and West Virginia native John Chambers.

The problem, though, may be less a matter of supply than of demand, according to Mark Polen, executive director of the West Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association.

About 80 percent of the homes with Internet access through their cable companies can get it at speeds of at least 3 megabits, Polen said.

But the higher speeds typically cost more, which is no small matter for West Virginia, 49th overall in median household income. In addition, there are other factors that limit the extent of high-speed Internet use in the state.

About 34.6 percent of households in the state subscribe to broadband Internet service, according to an April report by the state Advanced Services Task Force. The national average is about 49.6 percent. The report also found that about 59 percent of households in West Virginia have a computer, compared to 69 percent nationally.

‘Whether we have one megabit or 10 megabits isn’t going to matter much if people don’t have computers and aren’t online,’ Polen said.

PSC denies permit for W. Va. wind farm

News

Sam Allcock

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22 June 2007

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The state Public Service Commission says a developer can’t build a wind farm in Pendleton County because its application lacks information on several key issues, including the project’s impact on cultural resources and noise.

In an order released Friday, the PSC rejected Liberty Gap Wind Force LLC’s application for a permit for the proposed 50-turbine Liberty Gap wind farm. It was the second setback for the wind industry in West Virginia in less than a month.

On June 8, the state Supreme Court revived a lawsuit challenging a wind farm proposed for Grant County.

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for a coalition of wind developers in West Virginia, said Liberty Gap, whose parent is U.S. WindForce LLC, is disappointed with the PSC’s decision and will review its options. Maisano said the decision also is a disappointment for Pendleton County, which will lose jobs and tax revenue that the wind farm would have created.

‘There is a huge interest in moving renewable power projects forward and it’s unfortunate that we are taking some backward steps in West Virginia because West Virginia is a real opportunity, not just for the environment but for many communities like Pendleton County and Grant County that don’t have the opportunity to get economic development and new revenue,’ he said.

The Pendleton County wind farm, estimated to cost between $175 million and $190 million, would produce up to 125 megawatts of electricity that would be sold on the wholesale market. It would be located along an approximately 7-mile stretch of a ridgetop on Jack Mountain near Franklin, the PSC said.

In its application, Liberty Gap did not comply with a siting rule that requires a map showing communities, public or private recreational areas, churches, archaeological sites, land use classification and other entities within a 5-mile radius of the wind farm that potentially could be affected, the PSC said.

‘This is not a situation where a few incidental items were overlooked in preparing the map. That might be understandable. This particular map and the process used to develop it were fundamentally flawed, and the 5-mile map falls significantly short of meeting the requirements of the Siting Rules,’ the PSC said.

Liberty Gap’s application also lacked information about the wind farm’s impact on noise and views from public sites. Without such information, the PSC said it can’t balance the interests of the public, the developer and other parties in determining whether to approve the project.

The agency warned other developers to not make the same mistake.

‘There is frequently a rush to get these applications ‘in the Commission hopper.’ The Commission urges caution,’ the agency said.

Maisano said Liberty Gap had corrected deficiencies noted by the PSC. He also said other projects did not provide information on their impact on cultural resources until after they had received permits.

‘In our defense, this is the first time through what is a very difficult and cumbersome process and there are naturally going to be times when you are not going to make the right move,’ he said.

Maisano said he hopes the PSC’s decision and the earlier court ruling concerning the Grant County project are not ‘a reflection overall of things to come.’

Md. wind-power project challenges nixed

News

Sam Allcock

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22 June 2007

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – The state’s highest court again struck down attempts to block a wind-power project in Garrett County, ruling against two challenges brought by opponents of the project.

In both cases, area residents and business owners challenged the way the Maryland Public Service Commission approved Clipper Windpower Inc.’s 41-acre project along Backbone Mountain. The PSC green-lighted the project along with another wind-power proposal in 2003, but neither has been built.

On Thursday, the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the opponents’ challenge. The court ruled that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to consider a request to halt the project while another case was pending that involved the same parties and issues.

The court also found that the PSC acted appropriately when it advertised its hearing on the project in a newspaper instead of notifying interested parties directly. ‘Personal notification of all such potentially interested persons … would be impossible,’ the opinion said.

Earlier this month, the court ruled against a challenge filed by Eric Tribbey, writing on behalf of Friends of Backbone Mountain, who wanted another look at whether the proposed turbines would harm wildlife. Two other groups filed similar requests. But the court sided with Clipper Windpower, which argued that because those groups did not join PSC proceedings about the decision, they could not ask for it to be appealed.

The proposal from Clipper Windpower, based in Carpinteria, Calif., could produce up to 100 megawatts of power — enough to provide electricity to 100,000 homes. Critics say the turbines will spoil the landscape, cause noise pollution and kill birds.

If built as planned, the project would extend about 10.8 miles along the Allegheny Front, an Appalachian mountain ridge, at an elevation of about 3,200 feet. Strong, relatively steady winds make the ridge attractive to wind-power developers.

Pfizer’s Lyrica cleared for fibromyalgia

News

Sam Allcock

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21 June 2007

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NEW YORK (AP) – Drug developer Pfizer Inc. said Thursday the Food and Drug Administration approved its drug Lyrica as a treatment for fibromyalgia, a widespread and chronic pain condition.

The drug is already approved as a diabetic nerve pain treatment. During the first quarter, Lyrica sales reached $395 million.

Pfizer said about 6 million Americans have fibromyalgia, which is characterized by chronic widespread pain and can cause poor sleep, stiffness and fatigue.

Shares of Pfizer rose 23 cents to close at $25.94.

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Questions or comments about this story should be directed to Damian J. Troise at 212-621-7190

Pfizer ends trials of PF-3512676 as lung cancer treatment UPDATE

Business

ABC Staff

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20 June 2007

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LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Pfizer Inc said it has ended trials of PF-3512676 in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy as a treatment for lung cancer.The company said this includes two Phase 3 and two Phase 2 clinical trials.Pfizer said an interim analysis of the Phase 3 trials by an independent data safety monitoring committee (DSMC) showed there was no evidence that PF-3512676 produced additional clinical efficacy over that achieved with the standard cytotoxic chemotherapy regimen alone.’The DSMC concluded that the risk-benefit profile did not justify continuation of the trials,’ the company said.Pfizer said it licensed PF-3512676 from Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc in 2005.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comwjCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

China’s Timeshare Media plans US listing – report

News

Sam Allcock

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20 June 2007

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BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – Timeshare Media, a China outdoor advertisement agency, is planning a US listing, China Business News reported citing sources from the potential IPO underwriters.

The report quoted UBS and Morgan Stanley sources as saying that they are in talks with Timeshare Media for the underwriting mandate.

Timeshare Media received venture capital of 20 mln usd from Carlyle Group in November and is expected to raise another 30 mln this year in another round of funding from Carlyle.

(1 usd = 7.62 yuan)

susan.wang@xfn.com

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