Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, November 2, 1999
Quitiquit resigns as HTA chairwoman
Diane Quitiquit plans to leave the Hawaii Tourism Authority at the end of this month. Quitiquit, the Hawaii County director of research and development, has represented the Big Island on the tourism board since it was formed a year ago. She has been the HTA's chairwoman since June. She also plans to leave the county job at the end of this year to become manager of a new hospitality division of Parker Ranch, starting Jan. 1. It is now up to Gov. Ben Cayetano to appoint another Big Island representative to the all-volunteer HTA board. The board will then elect a new chairman.
Alabama firm takes control of KHNL
Dallas-based broadcasting company A.H. Belo Corp. has completed its sale of KHNL-Channel 8 in Honolulu to Raycom Media, based in Alabama. In the $88 million deal, Raycom also acquired Belo's KASA-TV in Albuquerque and KHNL's contract to operate KFVE in Honolulu.
GE's top executive to retire in 2001
NEW YORK -- General Electric Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, Jack Welch, one of America's most admired businessmen, plans to retire in April 2001, the company said today. Welch, 63, who yesterday was named Fortune magazine's "Manager of the Century," has headed GE since 1981. Welch will retire after GE's annual meeting in 2001, a company spokesman said, adding that no successor had been selected.
In other news . . .
WASHINGTON -- AT&T Corp. will increase by nearly 40 percent the fees that residential customers pay to subsidize phone service for the poor, people in expensive-to-serve areas and school Internet hookups. AT&T, the nation's largest long-distance company, plans to raise the fee from 99 cents to $1.38. AT&T says the fee change is needed to cover higher costs of providing the subsidized services. Also, Sprint raised its fees by 18 percent. Residential customers now will be assessed 8.4 percent, up from 7.1 percent, of their long-distance charges to go toward the fund.