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HAWAII
Servco Pacific shuts 2 Rex Tire stores
Servco Pacific Inc. closed two stand-alone Rex Tire retail stores on Saturday, one in Kaneohe and another in Waipahu, and eventually plans to close the remaining Oahu outlet, located in Mapunapuna.Servco will relocate the Waipahu and Kaneohe stores within Servco's automotive dealerships. Rex Tire wholesale and commercial locations at Sand Island and in Wailuku, Maui, are not affected. Servco said the moves are part of company streamlining.
Visitors bureau to hold awards
The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, whose state contract to market the Hawaii Convention Center runs out at the end of this month, is holding an awards dinner tonight to thank 47 local leaders for helping to bring 32 meetings and conventions to the state in the past two years.The ceremony, to be held at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, will highlight the bureau's Kuhina program, which encourages business and community leaders to use their influence to attract mainland and international organizations.
Beginning in January, Philadelphia-based SMG will market the convention center on a $14 million 3 1/2-year contract with the state. The nonprofit visitors bureau is keeping a $2 million contract to seek conventions and meetings that would be held at Hawaii hotels, not the convention center.
MAINLAND
Tesoro may get $30 million refund
San Antonio, Texas >> Tesoro Petroleum Corp. said it may receive a refund of as much as $30 million after Alaska regulators ruled owners of the trans-Alaska pipeline overcharged refiners for transporting crude oil.Tesoro is owed $25 million to $30 million plus interest under the under a Nov. 27 order from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, the oil company said in a statement. The commission's decision is subject to appeal and could take four years to resolve, the statement said.
Regulators determined that pipeline owners overcharged Alaskan refiners by an average of 57 percent for transporting crude oil between 1997 and 2000, the statement said.
Texas-based Tesoro operates Hawaii's biggest oil refinery and 36 gasoline stations in the islands.
Construction spending increases
WASHINGTON >> Construction spending edged up modestly in October, led by a surge in school construction, but a principal indicator of health at U.S. factories showed that manufacturing shrank for a third straight month.
Ford pension liabilities reduced by $1 billion
DETROIT >> The recent surge in financial markets has reduced Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. pension liabilities by $1 billion and the world's second biggest automaker's restructuring program is on track, top Ford executives said yesterday.Speaking from Geneva, Ford vice president and treasurer Malcolm Macdonald said better returns on U.S. pension assets in recent weeks had trimmed the $6 billion deficit the Dearborn-based company faced at the end of October.
Home Depot adds checkout-yourself
ATLANTA >> The Home Depot's do-it-yourself clientele can now do it themselves at the checkout counter as part of a technology upgrade the company promises will make for shorter lines and faster service.The technology also could help Home Depot with a proposal it announced earlier this year to shift more employees from full-time to part-time status, said Nathan Lewis, an analyst with Jackson Securities Inc.
