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HAWAII
YWCA to renovate Fernhurst facility
The YWCA of Oahu said it will close its Fernhurst women's transitional housing facility in Makiki during all of next year for a $2.2 million renovation.This is the building's first major renovation since 1952. Construction is needed in part to bring the first floor in line with accessibility requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Construction is being financed by the sale of a portion of YWCA's Makiki property to make way for the Punahou Vista Apartments.
Current YWCA residents are either seeking more permanent accommodations or were able to secure housing under government programs, the YWCA said.
MAINLAND
Dock troubles dropped U.S. trade deficit
WASHINGTON >> The U.S. trade deficit declined to $35.1 billion in October, the best showing in seven months, although much of the gain was attributed to the West Coast labor dispute, which sharply trimmed the level of imports.The Commerce Department reported that the imbalance between what America sells abroad and what it imports decreased by 5.5 percent from the September deficit of $37.1 billion.
The September deficit and an August imbalance of $38.1 billion had been the two highest monthly trade deficits on record as shippers rushed to get goods into the country ahead of the deadline for resolving the dock workers' labor dispute.
US Airways employees agreed to pay cuts
ARLINGTON, Va. >> US Airways employees represented by the Communications Workers of America reached agreement with the bankrupt airline for a second round of concessions, saying they feared it would shut down if they didn't acquiesce.Earlier this year, US Airways' 32,000 employees agreed to annual concessions of $840 million a year as part of a plan to cut costs by $1.2 billion a year.
But the airline later revised its plans, saying continued weakness in the industry required unions to make an additional $200 million in givebacks.
Last week, the pilots' union agreed to $101 million more in annual concessions. On yesterday the CWA, which represents about 6,300 reservations agents, gate workers and other passenger service employees, agreed to an unspecified amount of cuts.
Based on previous cuts, though, the CWA's concessions Wednesday probably fall in the $15 million range.
Oracle quarterly profit falls 2.7 percent
Redwood City, Calif. >> Oracle Corp.'s second-quarter profit fell 2.7 percent, less than forecast, as new database sales at the world's third-biggest software maker rose for the first time in six quarters.Bloomberg News reported net income fell to $534.9 million, or 10 cents a share, in the quarter ended Nov. 30, from $549.5 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier, Oracle said in a statement. Sales fell 3 percent to $2.31 billion from $2.38 billion.
General Dynamics buys GM unit
DETROIT >> General Dynamics Corp. is buying General Motors Corp.'s business that makes armored vehicles for $1.1 billion in cash, the defense contractor announced today.The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2003, Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics said in a statement.
GM Defense, which is based in London, Ontario, produces wheeled armored vehicles and turrets. Its products include Stryker -- a U.S. Army combat vehicle -- in a joint venture with General Dynamics.
General Dynamics chairman and chief executive Nicholas Chabraja said the acquisition will give the company "the right amount and balance of work and resources."
General Dynamics said it will honor existing labor agreements with GM Defense's 2,400 employees at its four operating units in London, Ontario; Goleta, Calif.; Adelaide, South Australia; and Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.
Board finds broad SEC failures
WASHINGTON >> The bungled naming of a national accounting oversight board, which cost U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt his job, involved missteps by the chairman, SEC staff and commissioners, according to a new congressional report.As one lawmaker likened the commission's handling of the matter to silent film's bumbling "Keystone Kops," the report said the process for choosing the board members "was neither consistent nor effective and changed and evolved over time."
In long-awaited findings, the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, spread blame widely for the debacle that led to three resignations last month, gutting the federal government's market-regulation leadership.
Pitt, former SEC Chief Accountant Robert Herdman and William Webster -- first chairman of the new accounting board --all quit from Nov. 5 to Nov. 12.
