News Briefs - Feb. 12
The Latest Headlines:
- Waste Management's 4Q Profits Fall
- Oshkosh Receives $185.9 Million Contract From Marines
- Jobless Claims Rise by 6,000 in Latest Week
- NTSB Recommends Ways to Make Highway Work Zones Safer
- December Business Inventories Rise 0.3%
- Barton Named Chairman of House Energy Panel
- Montana Reaches Land Deal to Expand U.S. 93
- Oshkosh Receives $185.9 Million Contract From Marines
Waste Management's 4Q Profits Fall
Waste Management Inc., the largest trash hauler, said Thursday its net income for the fourth quarter was $183 million or 31 cents a share, compared with $236 million or 39 cents a year earlier.The company said in a release profits were hurt because of an accounting change and severe winter storms in key markets. Revenues for the quarter were $2.97 billion, up from $2.81 billion a year ago.
Waste said for the full year, net income after the change in accounting principles was $630 million, compared with $822 million for 2002. Transport Topics
Oshkosh Receives $185.9 Million Contract From Marines
Oshkosh Truck Corp., a manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies, said Thursday it received an order worth $185.9 million from the U.S. Marine Corps for 700 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement wrecker and dump trucks.The vehicles are scheduled to begin delivery in May 2004, Oshkosh said in a statement. The contract includes 274 wreckers and 426 dump trucks.
The wrecker is a recovery vehicle used for vehicle towing, battlefield maintenance, recovery and crane operations, the company said. The dump trucks can carry a payload of 14 tons on-road and 6.1 tons off-road. Transport Topics
Jobless Claims Rise by 6,000 in Latest Week
The number of Americans filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits rose by 6,000 to 363,000 in the week ended Feb. 7, the Labor Department said Thursday.Claims were the highest since 375,000 in the week ended Dec. 6. Storms in parts of the country may have caused temporary layoffs at construction and other companies, leading to the rise in filings, a Labor spokesman said.
Labor also said the four-week claims average, a less volatile measure, rose last week to 350,500 from 345,500.
But the number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits in the week ended Jan. 31 fell by 23,000 to 3.083 million, the fewest since 3.066 million the week of July 28, 2001. Transport Topics
NTSB Recommends Ways to Make Highway Work Zones Safer
Highway construction zones are too often unsafe for motorists and workers, the National Transportation Safety Board said, and it urged the government to devise ways to make the areas safer, the Associated Press reported.The NTSB unanimously asked the Federal Highway Administration to issue stronger rules for designing work zones, like requiring concrete barriers or orange barrels to separate two-way traffic, and to order regular monitoring of the zones.
The number of motorists and workers killed in construction zones rose to a record 1,181 in 2002 from 693 in 1997, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The board said while drivers cause many accidents by excessive speed or inattention, state highway departments also bear some responsibility. NTSB said work zones often have lanes that are too narrow, inadequate barriers separating oncoming traffic and design flaws, AP reported. Transport Topics
December Business Inventories Rise 0.3%
The Commerce Department said Thursday that inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.3% in December.The increase in stockpiles at manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers to $1.191 trillion followed a 0.4% gain in November.
It was the fourth straight increase as companies tried to keep up with rising sales and orders. Companies will probably need to increase their stockpiles after reducing them much of last year, economists told Bloomberg.
Sales were up 0.9% after a 0.7% rise the month before, Commerce said. The ratio of inventories to sales fell to a record-low 1.34 months' supply, from 1.35 months. Transport Topics
Barton Named Chairman of House Energy Panel
Republican leaders on Wednesday selected Rep. Joe Barton of Texas to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Bloomberg reported.Once the choice is approved by the House, Barton will replace Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who said last week he would leave the post he's held since 2001.
Barton, in his 10th term, has chaired the panel's energy subcommittee since 1999. In that role, he shepherded President Bush's legislation to boost domestic oil production, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate, Bloomberg said.
Barton said in an interview with Bloomberg his top priority would be to get the energy bill passed. Transport Topics
Montana Reaches Land Deal to Expand U.S. 93
The Montana Department of Transportation has approved a land exchange between the agency and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for property to be used to expand U.S. 93., a north-south route between the Canadian border and Idaho in the western part of the state, the Associated Press reported.The exchange was necessary because the tribes did not wish to sell any land, and tribal land cannot be condemned for a state highway project, according to AP.
The parcels owned by MDT to be exchanged range from one acre to 130 acres, with appraised values from $l,000 to more than $257,000.
The approval was expected, since choosing the “no action” alternative would have made the entire highway reconstruction project across the Flathead Reservation untenable, AP said. Transport Topics
