in brief
Mississippi gaming industry
will pay fees to fund regulation
Mississippi's gaming regulatory structure will be self-funded through fees paid by the gaming industry it oversees.
The Mississippi Gaming Commission has filed a proposed fee structure with the secretary of state for a 30-day review.
The gaming industry will pay to regulate itself through fees assessed for licensing, work permits, inspections and equipment, gaming commission executive director Larry Gregory told the Biloxi Sun-Herald.
Commissioners are expected to vote on the fee structure sometime in May.
The move to industry-driven funding was contained in a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Haley Barbour. The bill required the commission to set fees at a level that will allow it to do its job without using any money from the state budget.
Last month during the special legislative session, Nevada lawmakers proposed a fee structure in which Nevada gaming licensees would pay a fee to fund the $32 million annual budget for the state's Gaming Control Board.
Casino industry lobbyists killed the plan, saying there wasn't consensus among gaming licensees. Also, lobbyists said the casino industry had already paid enough this year to fund the state budget.
Nevada served as the model for much of Mississippi's gaming laws and regulatory structure.
WASHINGTON
Economy's growth pace hits
5.6 percent in fourth quarter
The burst of energy the economy showed at the end of last year isn't likely to be repeated anytime soon.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that the economy grew at a 5.6 percent pace in the October-to-December quarter in its third and final estimate of economic activity during the period.
Even though growth turned out to be a tad less than the government's prior two estimates for the quarter, the new reading still marked the strongest showing in six years.
Many economists, however, think the economy has slowed in the current quarter to about half the pace seen at the end of last year.
Analysts predict the economy will expand at only between a 2.5 percent and 3 percent pace in the first quarter of this year. The next two quarters should log similar growth, they say.
NEW YORK
Health care overhaul to cause AT&T to take $1 billion charge
AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers.
The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million.
All five are smaller than AT&T, and their combined charges are less than half of the $1 billion that AT&T is planning. The $1 billion is a third of AT&T's most recent quarterly earnings. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company earned $3 billion on revenue of $30.9 billion.
AT&T said Friday that the charge reflects changes to how Medicare subsidies are taxed. Companies say the health care overhaul will require them to start paying taxes next year on a subsidy they receive for retiree drug coverage.
BRUSSELS
Greek official says relief plan gives nation breathing room
A hard-won deal to provide a safety net for Greece provided the debt-ridden country with some welcome relief Friday, with its cost of borrowing on international markets edging down slightly and labor unions at home saying they would hold off on any further strikes -- at least for now.
Prime Minister George Papandreou said that while Greece still faced problems, the new plan would give it breathing space to implement his Socialist government's harsh austerity program, designed to reduce its massive budget deficit and pull Greece out of a financial crisis that has rocked the European Union's common currency.
DETROIT
General Motors to bring back 600 laid-off auto workers
General Motors Co. will bring back 600 laid-off auto workers and add equipment at two Canadian factories in an effort make more midsize crossover vehicles that have been selling well in both the United States and Canada.
The company said Friday that it will add equipment and reconfigure the body-making shop at its factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, where it makes the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers.
It also will put hundreds of workers back on the clock at a factory in Oshawa, Ontario, and add equipment to the plant so it can make Equinoxes in addition to its current product, the Chevrolet Impala full-size sedan.
DETROIT
Chrysler will reinstate 50 of 789 dealers it planned to drop
If your local Chrysler dealer was forced out of business by the company last year, it could soon be selling new cars again.
Chrysler Group LLC said Friday it is offering to reinstate 50 of the 789 dealers that it previously tried to drop while it was making its way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The 50 Chrysler dealers, which the company would not identify, are in areas that can offer service to customers without hurting the remaining stores in its network of 2,334 dealers selling Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles in the U.S., the company said. The dealers being offered reinstatement have not yet been notified of the company's decision, a spokeswoman said.
The 50 dealers were among 418 that sought arbitration to appeal the automaker's decisions to terminate their franchise agreements. Congress passed a law in December requiring an appeals process for General Motors Co. and Chrysler dealers whose franchises were revoked by the companies.
The move is another sign that GM and Chrysler are easing up on plans to thin their dealership ranks after Congress passed a law that requires arbitration to settle disputes.
Chrysler had earlier offered franchises back to 36 other dealers whose contracts were terminated.
NEW YORK
Gasoline prices hold steady nationally; inch up locally
Average retail gasoline prices nationwide held steady at the same level as a week ago.
Nationwide average retail prices shed less than a penny overnight to $2.811 a gallon. Pump prices are 13.3 cents higher than a month ago and 80.2 cents more expensive than the same time last year, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Drivers are paying 16 cents per gallon more now than they were at the start of the year.
Gasoline prices have climbed recently as refineries began producing more expensive blends to reduce pollution in warmer weather. On Monday, the national average gasoline price was $2.82 a gallon, the highest since October 2008.
Energy analysts and the government predict prices will reach $3 or more by summer, as more drivers hit the road.
In Las Vegas, a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline averaged $2.838 Friday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge report. That's up 1 percent from $2.807 a week ago.
The Las Vegas price is up 4.3 percent from $2.721 a month ago and up 34.3 percent from $2.113 a year ago.
ALCOA, Tenn.
Alcoa chief: Americans must recycle more aluminum cans
The U.S. trails Brazil, Germany, Russia and some other countries in its rate of recycling aluminum beverage cans and Alcoa Inc.'s chief executive said Friday that needs to change.
The Pittsburgh-based company dedicated an expansion of its aluminum can recycling operation in east Tennessee.
Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said the expansion will help support a goal of boosting the current 54 percent rate of recycling beverage cans in the United States to 75 percent by 2015.
A company statement said the 75 percent recycling rate can be achieved in the United States if each person recycles one more can each week.
TURIN, Italy
Fiat planning to boost stake
in Chrysler to 35 percent
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Friday the Italian automaker would increase its stake in Chrysler to 35 percent within two years.
The first 5 percent increment could come as early as this year after the Fiat 500 electric car is launched, Marchionne told shareholders at their annual meeting. The subsequent two purchases will depend on Chrysler's distribution outside the United States, with the first linked to sales in Europe and the second depending on Latin America, he said.
"In the next 24 months maximum we must arrive at 35 percent of Chrysler," Marchionne said. "The most important thing is that Chrysler is proceeding on a turnaround plan, the results are good."
