“Goodyear: new contract provides $215M in savings - Miami Herald” plus 4 more

Goodyear: new contract provides $215M in savings - Miami Herald
Third suspect surrenders in Kearny jewelry store murder - Bridgeton News
Alliant Energy announces tender offer results - Miami Herald
Convicted killer charged in shooting death of Kearny jewelry store ... - Bridgeton News
Independent garages to get access to key software - Calgary Sun

Goodyear: new contract provides $215M in savings - Miami Herald

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 02:22 PM PDT

CLEVELAND -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Tuesday that a new national contract with the United Steelworkers union will save the company $215 million over the four-year life of the agreement.

Combined with earlier staff-reduction agreements at five plants, the Akron, Ohio-based tire maker expects $555 million in savings by 2013.

Goodyear agreed to invest $600 million over four years to upgrade plants represented by the Steelworkers.

The agreement ratified in mid-September covers about 10,300 workers at plants in Akron; Gadsden, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Topeka, Kan.; Danville, Va.; Fayetteville, N.C., and Union City, Tenn.

Richard J. Kramer, Goodyear chief operating officer and president, North American Tire, said the agreement would allow the company to improve efficiency and flexibility in a quick-changing marketplace.

"This innovative agreement can truly change the way we run these factories," he said. "It's an agreement that gets us excited about our future competitiveness."

The agreement gives the company flexibility on vacation scheduling and staffing levels and trims $55 million in wage and benefit costs, according to Kramer.

For example, an employee who voluntarily moves to a lower-paying job cannot keep getting paid at the higher rate.

Of the plants covered by the agreement, only Union City was left unprotected from a shutdown. Both sides agreed before the national negotiations to allow Goodyear to trim the Union City work force through buyouts. The plant moved from a nonstop operation to five-day production.

Goodyear officials said in a conference call on the national agreement that there was no update on the Union City plant status.

Goodyear has nearly 70,000 employees and production facilities in 25 countries.

Goodyear shares rose 58 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $17.11 in Tuesday late afternoon trading.

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Third suspect surrenders in Kearny jewelry store murder - Bridgeton News

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 02:15 PM PDT

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

September 29, 2009, 4:41PM

Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey JournalRachel jewelers in Kearny, site of a brazen robbery-murder last month, has reopened. The second and third suspects are now in custody.

The last of three men wanted in the killing of a Kearny jewelry store owner surrendered to homicide detectives at 2 this afternoon, just hours after the alleged gunman was snared in Belleville, officials said.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said it's likely Edmir Sokoli, 23, of Bloomfield, got word that homicide detectives were looking for him and he opted to surrender in the presence of his attorney.

Sokoli was wanted on the charge of felony murder in death of Xavier Egoavil, 47, who was gunned down during a robbery of Rachel Jewelers on Kearny Avenue at 8:45 a.m. Aug. 18 while the victim's horrified mother looked on, officials said.

Sokoli's bail has been set at $750,000 cash only.

Early this morning the alleged gunman in the robbery and homicide, 51-year-old John DeRosa of Bloomfield, was arrested in a cab by investigators conducting surveillance at a location in Bloomfield, DeFazio said.

DeRosa has already done time in prison for a 1987 manslaughter in Essex County and DeFazio said he has had contacts with the justice system going back as far as 1970, according to state corrections records.

DeRosa is also charged with felony murder and his bail has been set at $2 million cash only.

At the store this afternoon, the victim's father, Honorio Egoavil, said the arrests gave him little consolation.

"I will never have my son back," Egoavil told The Jersey Journal as he assisted customers from behind the jewelry store counter. "The police can do what they have to do but it will not give me my son back."

Earlier this month, police arrested the suspected getaway driver, 24-year-old Elvis Feratovic of Bloomfield. Feratovic is charged with felony murder and his bail is set at $750,000 cash or bond.

"The crime was tragic, and there was a very significant law enforcement effort to bring these three actors to justice," said DeFazio, adding that his office worked closely with Kearny Police. "It was intense and thorough and we are thankful that the three actors have been removed from the streets."

When the robbers entered the jewelry store and announced the robbery, Egoavil scuffled with the gunman, who opened fire, officials said. Egoavil was shot in the head, back, thigh and chest before the robbers stole the jewelry, then left the store and went to the waiting getaway car parked around the block.

The robbery was captured on the jewelry store's security video system, while various other security cameras also captured aspects of the crime and the suspected getaway car.

The case began to unravel when a tip from a citizen who contacted Kearny police led investigators to a Passaic County auto repair shop where they believe work was being done to make the suspected getaway car less recognizable, DeFazio said.

Homicide detectives determined that Elvis Feratovic was the car's owner and contacted him, DeFazio said. He was interviewed at the Homicide Squad's headquarters and arrested.

DeRosa was in prison from Feb. 26, 1987 to May 2, 2001 for the Essex County murder and a 1981 conviction for criminal mischief, according to state corrections records.

Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Paul Laroquet said the manslaughter committed by DeRosa was in 1980 and he was indicted on the charges of murder and a weapons offense but later convicted on Jan. 1, 1987 of aggravated manslaughter. The spokesman said detailed records of the case are in storage and could not be accessed immediately.

Lori Romaniak, who works at an eye doctor's office a few doors from the jewelry store, said anger at the brutal crime won't go away.

"I just say bring the guy to us and let us have our way with him. It's really sickening. They are animals. It almost makes you want a Charles Bronson to come," Romaniak said, referring to the actor's roll in film as a vigilante.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

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Alliant Energy announces tender offer results - Miami Herald

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 12:21 PM PDT

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Johnson Controls notes exchange offer expires

Johnson Controls Inc. said Friday that its convertible notes exchange offer has expired.

About $400.4 million of the convertible senior notes due 2012 were tendered as of Thursday and were accepted by the maker of automotive and building systems in exchange for approximately $61.2 million in cash and about 35.8 million shares of common stock.

Johnson Controls said about 99.5 percent of the outstanding notes were tendered in the offer. Approximately $2.1 million of the notes will remain outstanding after the offer.

Allegheny Energy unit to issue $600M in debt

Allegheny Energy, a utility, said Wednesday that a subsidiary will issue $600 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes.

The issuance includes $350 million of 5.75 percent notes due 2019 and $250 million of 6.75 percent notes due 2039.

The unit will apply the net proceeds of the notes offering to repay its existing $447 million term loan and to finance the repurchase of up to $150 million of its outstanding 7.8 percent notes due 2011.

French oil giant Total SA raises bid for UTS Energy in Canada

French oil giant Total SA raised its bid Monday for Canadian oil sands company UTS Energy Corp. by about 35 percent after its first offer was rejected.

Total said Monday it had raised its offer to 829.8 million Canadian dollars ($676 million) from its January bid of about 616 million Canadian dollars. UTS stock has since risen above the initial bid of 1.30 Canadian dollars per share and is now trading at about 1.80 Canadian dollars on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Its latest bid is 1.75 Canadian dollars per share ($1.43). The rise in UTS shares has come as oil prices have risen.

Investors targeting wind energy

When President Barack Obama stood in front of wind turbine towers in a Newton, Iowa, factory late last month he was not only pushing his green energy policies but promoting an industry that has been growing rapidly and gaining favor with investors.

Revenue from solar, wind power, ethanol and biodiesel fuel grew 50 percent to about $116 billion last year, according to Clean Edge Inc., a research and publishing firm. The spike in green revenue, and the backing of the federal government to explore these energy sources has excited investors.

''They favor green investment right now because they think that's the way the world is going,'' said David Wood, director of the Institute for Responsible Investment at Boston College's Center for Corporate Citizenship.

International Briefing

Turkmenistan's president blamed Russia's state gas monopoly for a pipeline blast that shut off the Central Asian country's exports, escalating the war of words that may help EU efforts to ease its energy dependence on Russia.

Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov accused Russia's Gazprom of ''technological errors'' that triggered Wednesday's blast, and demanded it pay for the repairs and compensate Turkmenistan for damages.

The Foreign Ministry said last week the explosion occurred after the Russian gas monopoly decided on short notice to reduce the amount of gas it takes from Turkmenistan without giving enough time to reduce its flow into the pipeline network.

The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. -- Alliant Energy Corp. said Monday that it will pay $40 per senior note as part of its previously announced cash tender offer.

The payment, which includes the early tender payment of $2 per note, will go to all holders who validly tender the notes due 2030 by 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 15.

As of the early tender date, Alliant Energy had received valid tenders and consents of about $402.3 million, or about 5.9 million notes.

Alliant Energy said it will incur a non-cash charge based on the aggregate principal amount of notes purchased in the tender offer because they are currently carried on the company's books at about $6.60 per note.

The company estimates that the incurred after-tax charge in the third quarter of 2009 will be around $128 million.

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Convicted killer charged in shooting death of Kearny jewelry store ... - Bridgeton News

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 10:48 AM PDT

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

September 29, 2009, 12:29PM

Photo courtesy of El Amauta newspaperXavier Egoavil, seen with his family at Rachel Jewelers, was shot and killed during a robbery at the Kearny shop last month. A convicted killer was arrested this morning and charged in the shooting death of a Kearny jewelry store owner during a robbery last month, officials told The Jersey Journal.

John DeRosa, 51, who was imprisoned 14 years for a 1987 aggravated manslaughter in Essex County, is accused of gunning down 47-year-old Xavier Egoavil inside his Rachel Jewelers on Kearny Avenue at 8:45 a.m. Aug. 18 while the victim's horrified mother looked on, officials said.

Egoavil was shot four times after wrestling with one of two robbers who then cleaned out jewelry racks in the store, officials said. Egoavil left his wife, Gina, and two children, Xavier, 10, and Ivana, 6,

Investigators were conducting surveillance at a location in Belleville this morning when they arrested DeRosa in a cab, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

"This investigation was jointly conducted by the Kearny Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad, and it was through their cooperation that this case was made," DeFazio said.

The prosecutor's office has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Edmir Sokoli, 23, of Bloomfield, on the charge of murder as an accomplice, DeFazio said. Investigators believe he was the robber who entered the jewelry store with DeRosa, DeFazio said.

Earlier this month, police arrested the suspected getaway driver, 24-year-old Elvis Feratovic of Bloomfield, who is charged with felony murder.

The robbery was captured on the jewelry store's security video system, while various other security cameras also captured aspects of the crime and the suspected getaway car, officials said.

"We believe (Feratovic's) intent was to have the appearance of the car altered and in fact, to some degree, it was," DeFazio said when Feratovic was arrested.

DeRosa was in prison from Feb. 26, 1987 to May 2, 2001 for a 1987 Essex County aggravated manslaughter and a 1981 conviction for criminal mischief, according to state corrections records.

Anyone with information on Sokoli's whereabouts is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

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Independent garages to get access to key software - Calgary Sun

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 12:14 PM PDT

OTTAWA — Automakers have agreed to allow independent garages access to the key software and training needed to repair newer-model cars, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday.

Clement said the voluntary agreement over what is called the right to repair will make for more competition and lower bills for consumers.

It will cover all Canadian auto manufacturers and distributors.

"The agreement will make information and tools available to independent repair shops . . . for the repair of all vehicles," he said.

"Often, fixing vehicles today is more about the car's computer system than it's about nuts and bolts and so, in order to repair and service newer vehicles, there are highly specialized and specific tools that require technical training and diagnostic information," he added.

The deal should be fully in place by next May, the minister said.

The independent auto-repair industry says this kind of voluntary agreement can't be enforced and they would prefer to see legislation enacted.

A NDP private member's bill to this effect received preliminary approval in the Commons last spring and is due for committee consideration.

Clement said the agreement is a compromise that will protect car makers' secrets, while giving independent repair shops what they need to do their jobs.

"It will continue to protect the intellectual property rights of car companies while addressing implementation issues and technical challenges."

He said consumers will benefit from wider choices and lower costs.