P.M. Executive Briefing - Dec. 10
This Afternoon's Headlines:
- Western Star Draws Another Spin-Off Plant
- Some Toll Plazas May Be Dropped
- TMA Holds Election
- Highway 70 Reopens
- Public-Private Toll Road Fight
- Hepatitis A Alert in Alamance County
Western Star Draws Another Spin-Off Plant
The truck dashboard maker Export Packaging is the most recent supplier to be lured to Charleston County, S.C., by the Western Star factory being built in North Charleston. Export Packaging is to occupy a North Charleston plant along with four fellow Western Star suppliers. The county council voted Thursday to reduce Export Packaging's tax assessment and impose a 20-year tax freeze.The Western Star plant will have 200 employees at the outset; Export Packaging is to employ 80 out of the 200-plus people in the supplier plant. Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier Online (12/10/99) ; Porter, Arlie
Some Toll Plazas May Be Dropped
When Gov. George Ryan named Thomas Cuculich as the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority's director, he was told to make traveling time on the state tollways better in addition to reducing tolls or getting rid of them outright.
Cuculich said Ryan has also pushed back the deadline for a list of possible ways to achieve the goals for the tollways. They were to be given to Ryan this week, but it will probably not be out until the first part of 2000. He said Ryan staffers are "satisfied" with his current direction but need additional details.
In addition, Cuculich dismissed tollway advisory board members' issues about an I-PASS system that would use subscribers' toll transactions to monitor traffic flow. The board members were worried that the motorist data could be subpoenaed, to which Cuculich said the information is taken out of computers every three months, and that it would be used to determine who was speeding, to which Cuculich said the authority neither has nor wants the ability to do so. Chicago Tribune (12/10/99) P. 1, Metro Chicago Section; Worthington, Rogers
TMA Holds Election
Truck Manufacturers Association Executive Director William A. Leasure Jr. said it has named David E. Breedlove, former TMA vice chairman, as the new chairman of the board of directors. Breedlove is Ford Motor Co.'s director, program and pre-production management. The TMA elected Dr. V.K. Sharma of Navistar International as vice chairman and Thomas F. Brown of Mack Trucks as secretary-treasurer. Land Line Magazine Online (12/10/99)Highway 70 Reopens
Highway 70 in New Mexico is open again after being shut down between Ruidoso and Roswell Wednesday because of snow and ice. The highway is shut down twice a year or more, according to state police. ABC NewsWire (12/10/99)Public-Private Toll Road Fight
When Caltrans planned to build lanes alongside the private 91 Express Lanes toll road in southern California due to safety concerns about the heavy traffic, the road's owner sued, complaining of losing revenue-generating ability. Two months ago, the state agency reached a settlement in which it said upgrades will not take place until the Riverside Freeway's traffic goes up 53% or until six years pass.Critics contend Caltrans' decision will keep the highway jammed for years to come. They say that the downsides to the road, California's test of the idea of making state roadways private, outweigh the benefits. In addition, they contend that it pits the necessity of the state taking care of its highways against the money-making motive of private outfits.
But Monte Ward of the Orange County Transportation Authority said the privatization experiment allowed the construction of needed roads that could not have been built otherwise. And Robert Poole, from the Reason Foundation think tank, said 91 Express Lanes proved "that there is a demand for congestion relief that people are willing to pay for."
California Private Transportation, which has owned the money-losing road for four years, wants to sell it even though 31 years remain in its lease, but officials have stopped the sale to the nonprofit NewTrac due to various issues. Los Angeles Times (12/10/99) P. 1B; Garvey, Megan
Hepatitis A Alert in Alamance County
A case of hepatitis A was found in an employee at The Cookery Restaurant at the Flying J Truck Stop on Interstate 85/40 in Alamance County, N.C., according to the county health department. Another worker there might have the disease as well.It is recommended that customers who ate there on Nov. 24, or from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, get a shot of immune globulin two weeks or less after their visit to the restaurant. The restaurant's customers in the period between Nov. 10 and Nov. 23 could also have been exposed, but it is too late for immune globulin to have effect on them. Symptoms can show up between two and seven weeks following exposure. Layover.com (12/09/99)
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