Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, March 26, 1998
Molokai to get slaughterhouse
Gov. Ben Cayetano has released $500,000 for the construction of a federally certified commercial slaughterhouse on Molokai, which he said will help boost that island's economy.He also said today that a certified slaughterhouse will protect Molokai residents from health problems associated with uninspected "backyard" slaughter activities. "Currently, because there is no such facility on Molokai, ranchers have no choice but to send their livestock to Oahu and Maui for slaughter," he said. "With no fresh beef or pork products readily available, local residents frequently perform backyard slaughters for subsistence needs."
The slaughterhouse is scheduled for completion in the summer of 1999.
Maui County has committed $70,000 for its first two years of operation. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has allocated $75,000 for slaughterhouse equipment.
30-year mortgages hold steady at 7.08%
WASHINGTON -- The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 7.08 percent, Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, said today.That leaves the average between a four-month high of 7.19 percent reached this month and a four-year low of 6.89 percent in mid-January.
Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 6.69 percent this week, down from 6.70 percent last week.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.70 percent, up from 5.67 percent.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.
Sumitomo Calif. bank selling for $546 mil
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Zions Bancorporation said it will buy Sumitomo Bank Ltd.'s California bank for about $546 million in cash in a transaction that may be the start of a major Japanese bank pullback from the U.S. market.Salt Lake City-based Zions will pay Sumitomo $32.26 a share for its 85 percent stake in San Francisco-based Sumitomo Bank of California. Public shareholders will get $38.25 a share. That's 24 percent below the bank's market price of $50.50 at the close of U.S. trading yesterday.
Sumitomo is a major shareholder of Hawaii's Central Pacific Bank.