Free Republic

<p>HARRISBURG -- The state's new "do not call" list to be registered as off-limits for telemarketers has been swamped, and thousands of residents have not been able to get through since the hotline was turned on yesterday.</p> <p>In fact, within the first 20 hours that the list was opened, starting yesterday morning, roughly 115,000 people were successfully registered to have their phone numbers placed on the list.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Eye-care products maker Bausch & Lomb Inc. said Thursday it will shut down plants in Miami, Spain and South Korea and eliminate about 450 jobs, or 3.75 percent of its work force. The restructuring was disclosed as the company, boosted by strong sales of newer-style contact lenses, reported that its earnings more than tripled in the second quarter. Its stock jumped nearly 11 percent. Bausch & Lomb earned $21.8 million, or 40 cents a share, up from $6.8 million, or 13 cents a share, in last year's...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WOODBURY, N.Y. (AP) — Comverse Technology Inc. said Monday it plans to reduce its work force by about 1,200 people, resulting in unspecified third-quarter restructuring charges. The cuts were made as a result of ongoing weakness in telecommunications network operators' capital spending, the company said. Comverse, a multimedia-enhanced communications services provider, is based in Woodbury, N.Y., and has about 5,700 employees. Comverse said it will conduct the staff reductions primarily through its network systems unit, which serves the telecommunications network operator market. Comverse said its current staffing levels were intended to...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Budd Co., one of Philadelphia's major employers for much of the 20th century, announced Friday that it is closing its last auto-parts plant in the city. About 600 people work at the plant in Philadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood that makes metal stampings and assemblies such as roofs, doors, fenders, tailgates, lift gates and body side panels. Many of the workers are longtime employees who are eligible for retirement, the company said. The company said it has excess manufacturing capacity at its Detroit and Philadelphia plants and plans...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States trade deficit ballooned to a record $37.6 billion in May, reflecting Americans' ravenous appetite for foreign-made cars, TVs and clothes. The Commerce Department reported Friday that the deficit was 4.1 percent higher than the revised $36.1 billion trade gap reported for April. Many analysts were predicting a slight narrowing of the trade imbalance in May. Separately, consumer prices edged up just 0.1 percent in June, after being flat in May, suggesting that inflation remains low and doesn't pose a risk to the economy. The latest...

<p>More than 500 workers at bankrupt Phar-Mor discount drug stores in western Pennsylvania will lose their jobs after a group of companies including Giant Eagle supermarkets received final approval to shut the doors on the Youngstown-based chain.</p> <p>U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Bodoh in Youngstown approved the $141 million bid made by Giant Eagle; Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Corp., operator of CVS Pharmacies; and two liquidation companies, Hilco Merchant Resources of Chicago and Ozer Group of Boston, for all the assets of Phar-Mor. The discount chain filed for bankruptcy in September and could not rebound from steep losses.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Business software maker Siebel Systems Inc. is slashing more than 1,100 jobs to deal with the brutally bad market for corporate technology spending, which caused a 61 percent decline in Siebel's second-quarter profits. The job cuts amount to 16 percent of Siebel's 7,160-person work force. They were announced Wednesday as Siebel released earnings that fell well short of Wall Street expectations and lowered its outlook for the rest of the year. "It's difficult to express how weak it is, in Europe, in Asia, in the United States,"...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dock workers presented a proposal they said could break a contract negotiation impasse with the shipping lines that bring billions of dollars of goods through West Coast ports. The union said the new proposal, presented to shipping lines Tuesday night, would cost hundreds of longshore clerks their jobs by opening the ports to computerization — but in the long term would ensure union control of new jobs generated from increased efficiency on the waterfront. ``We are giving them what they are saying is their bottom-line, have-to-have out...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Intel Corp., which has managed to avoid mass layoffs during the technology downturn, said Tuesday it's cutting 4,000 jobs as the chip-making giant posted disappointing second-quarter earnings. The world's largest semiconductor company said continuing softness in demand for the chips that power personal computers prompted the 4.8 percent reduction in its work force. ``We haven't seen an economic recovery in our business yet,'' said Andy Bryant, Intel's chief financial officer. ``We want to be cautious in our spending.'' As was the case a year ago, when 5,000 jobs were cut, most of the reductions will...

<p>MILAN, Italy — Fiat SpA will cut production and lay off as many as 21,700 auto workers, nearly half its European carmaking work force, in August and September as sales plunge.</p> <p>Italy's biggest manufacturer will reduce output by 40,000 vehicles in the next two months, Fiat said, bringing reductions for the year to 90,000 cars.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — Corporate accounting scandals in the United States and declining stock prices haven't changed the outlook for economic growth at a 3 percent to 3.5 percent annual rate by the fourth quarter, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said.</p> <p>The Bush administration is scheduled to release an update of its budget and economic forecasts Monday, and O'Neill suggested he sees no reason it should change from the forecast released in February.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The corporate parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's said it will cut jobs and possibly close stores, blaming a new tax that more than doubles what the chain pays to the state. Federated Department Stores Inc. will also curtail hiring and end plans to remodel or expand existing stores, the company chairman said Tuesday. The announcement is the first such complaint since the law was approved last week. The retail chain claims it paid $4.4 million in state corporate taxes last year. Now, thanks to a law Gov....

<p>HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- Allegheny Energy Inc. said today it will cut 600 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force, and cancel construction of two power plants to help cut costs after an unexpectedly weak first half.</p> <p>The company is the parent of the former West Penn Power, and it has customers in parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines will cut more jobs to compete with Southwest Airlines and smaller no-frills competitors, acknowledging cost-conscious consumers are forcing changes in the way the world's largest airline does business. Citing fewer business travelers and cheaper fares, Chief Executive Donald Carty said job cuts will unfold as the AMR Corp. unit tries to figure out what travelers want and how much they will to pay to fly. Carty gave no numbers or timetable. AMR shares fell by nearly 6 percent on Wednesday before rebounding somewhat as the airline...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Supply chain software maker i2 Technologies said Tuesday that it plans to cut staff amid declining second-quarter revenues that came in below expectations. In a preliminary announcement, i2 said it expects to report revenues of $117 million to $120 million for the second quarter, ended June 30. Analysts polled by First Call estimated the company would book $151 million in revenues. Revenues are down by more than half from the same period last year, when the company posted $241 million in revenue. The company expects to report a loss of between...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Motorola will end manufacturing at its Computer Group in Tempe, a move that will eliminate about 400 jobs as part of the cell phone and semiconductor maker's efforts to cut costs. The center specializes in design and production of computer circuit boards and other systems that go inside telecommunications, military, aerospace, medical and industrial automation equipment. Those manufacturing operations will be transferred to other Motorola sites or outsourced to subcontractors, the company said Tuesday. The Tempe location will remain the computer group's world headquarters and design center...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientific-Atlanta Inc. said on Wednesday it cut 1,300 jobs in Mexico, or 16 percent of its total work force, and warned that further cuts could follow due to slack demand for its television set-top boxes. Shares of the company, one of the largest makers of digital set-top boxes for receiving cable TV programs and interactive online services like movies on demand, fell as much as 7.6 percent to their lowest level in more than three years. But the shares recovered as the day went on and closed...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WASHINGTON (AP) — State and local governments increased their payrolls last year in spite of the slowing economy. There were nearly 15.4 million state and local workers in March 2001, up 2 percent from March 2000, according to results being released Wednesday from an annual Census Bureau survey. The worker count included 11.2 million local government employees. Total payroll in March 2001 was $49.3 billion, up from $46.7 billion the previous year, the survey found. Once again, elementary and secondary school-related positions including teachers, were the biggest category of the overall...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — EsselPropack America Ltd., a tubing manufacturer, will build a $21 million factory in southwestern Virginia to produce toothpaste tubes, Gov. Mark R. Warner announced Tuesday. The new business will create 81 jobs. Warner said the EsselPropack project is the first new business announcement for Danville since 1996 and the company's first manufacturing plant in the U.S. With headquarters in India, EsselPropack is the world's leading manufacturer of laminated and plastic tubes used in dental care, cosmetics and for other uses. The Danville plant will supply Proctor &...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CINGULAR WIRELESS is hoping that its risky and expensive effort to break into the crowded New York market will be received more like the return of the Dodgers to Brooklyn than the resumption of alternate-side-of-the-street parking after a holiday weekend. Cingular, the nation's second-largest provider of wireless telephone services, plans to spend about $20 million on the extensive effort. The campaign, which begins this week with elements that include print advertisements, commercials, a dedicated Web site, promotions and retail marketing, is tailored to the tastes and "all right, already" tone of...