Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Thursday, September 2, 1999

Dentists drum up convention

Courtesy of Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau
More than 170 banners of a Hawaiian man beating a drum
will be hung along streets around the Hawaii Convention
Center to welcome 30,000-plus visitors to the American
Dental Association Oct. 9-12. The design, commissioned
by the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, also will be
seen on buttons and posters. The conventioneers are expected
to spend $74 million in Hawaii in what will be the largest
convention so far at the center.

Isle sales by check ahead of U.S. pace

Retail sales in Hawaii in August were up 4.5 percent from the August 1998 level, according to a survey by TeleCheck, a national check-approval business. TeleCheck, which monitors purchases paid for by check and compares them with previous activity in the same stores, said Hawaii led the Western states in sales. Nationally, purchases paid for by check were up 3.7 percent last month from August 1998 and transactions in the Western states were up 3.4 percent, Houston-based TeleCheck said.

Best Inn operates small hotel in Laie

A small hotel in Laie has become Hawaii's first Best Inn. Hospitality Associates, based in Spokane, Wash., operator of the Best Inn brand, has taken over management of what was the Rodeway Inn Hukilau Resort and has changed its name to Best Inn Hukilau Resort. The two-story hotel, next to the Polynesian Cultural Center, has 49 units in single- and double-room and suite configurations.

U.S. mortgages rise to 7.83 percent

McLEAN, Va. -- The average U.S. 30-year,fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.83 percent this week from 7.80 percent last week, according to a weekly survey by Freddie Mac, the mortgage broker. The average rate on an adjustable mortgage fell to 6.18 percent from 6.22 percent last week, and the 15-year mortgage average rate rose to 7.45 percent from 7.43 percent, Bloomberg News reported today.

In other news . . .

SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. today named Richard Belluzzo, a computer industry veteran who most recently headed California-based Silicon Graphics Inc., to run its Internet operations. Belluzzo, 45, will oversee Microsoft's Consumer and Commerce Group as the company seeks to expand its online commerce services.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. will lay off 450 hourly workers beginning this month. The company today blamed the layoffs on "fluctuating workloads in our Navy business" as well as a pact with the Navy to cut costs.