News Briefs

Published: June 24, 2009

Chemical spill at Sauk City building sends 36 to hospital

Sauk City (AP) — Authorities evacuated scores of workers from a business in Sauk City because of a chemical spill, and three dozen people were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Sauk Prairie Police Chief Gerald Strunz said the spill that happened about 1 p.m. Wednesday involved a solution of chlorine bromine that’s used as a cleaning agent in air-cooling towers.

The chief said about 140 employees were evacuated. The 36 taken to Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital & Clinics had minor symptoms such as watery eyes and scratchy throats.
The cause remains under investigation.

Chrysler to idle St. Louis Dodge Ram plant in July

Detroit (AP) — Chrysler said it will end production of the Dodge Ram at its St. Louis North Assembly plant next month.

The Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker said Wednesday the plant will end production July 10.

St. Louis North is one of the five plants the company said it would close by the end of 2010, as they were considered “bad assets” under Chrysler’s bankruptcy protection filing.

The St. Louis plant has been closed since Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection in April, but it will briefly resume production for two weeks starting June 29 to fulfill remaining orders of Ram trucks.

Employees will have the option to transfer to other Chrysler facilities. Those that do not move to another plant are eligible for a retirement or severance package.

General Motors retools Ohio factory for small-car success

Lordstown, Ohio (AP) — As General Motors Corp. undergoes its transformation in a New York bankruptcy court, a metamorphosis is under way inside an eastern Ohio factory that will make what arguably is GM’s most important vehicle.

The 5-million-square-foot Lordstown complex about 50 miles southeast of Cleveland will start making the Chevrolet Cruze compact car early next year, and workers assigned to the factory’s $351 million retooling know they have no margin for error.

GM has a lot riding on the Cruze, a sleeker, lighter and better-appointed replacement for the Chevrolet Cobalt. To survive after its Chapter 11 reorganization, GM executives and workers know the Cruze, due in showrooms around May 2010, must sell far better than the Cobalt.

Unemployment increases in four Wisconsin cities

Madison (AP) — Unemployment rates increased slightly in Wisconsin’s two largest cities last month.
The state Department of Workforce Development released figures Wednesday showing unemployment in the

Madison metropolitan area rose from 6 percent in April to 6.2 percent in May, still the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

The unemployment rate in Milwaukee rose from 8.9 percent to 9 percent. The rate also increased in Sheboygan, from 9.2 percent to 9.5 percent; and in Wausau, from 9 percent to 9.2 percent.

Janesville continued to have the highest unemployment rate of the state’s 12 largest cities at 12.9 percent, unchanged from April.

The statewide unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in May, down from 8.8 percent in April.

Lost & found: Golf course may regain missing holes

Los Angeles (AP) — How do you lose a hole? Ask the Westchester Golf Course, which was deprived of three of them — and now might get them back.

The club near Los Angeles International Airport had 18 holes when it was built in 1965.

But it lost three of them in 1993 when a major road was expanded.

Golfers have been reduced to playing 15 holes, reusing some to complete a game.

Efforts to restore the holes failed over the years, but the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has approved a 10-year lease with Westchester Golf Partners to restore the holes using vacant airport-owned land.

Golf Partners will invest about $2 million.
TARP chief sees sun peeking through economic storm

Washington (AP) — The new manager of the government’s $700 billion bank bailout program said he sees signs the economy is on the mend even though high unemployment and falling home prices remain a threat.

In prepared testimony for a congressionally appointed panel, Herbert Allison said Wednesday it is critical for the government to remain vigilant and “press ahead” with recovery efforts.

Allison is the former head of mortgage buyer Fannie Mae. This month, the Senate confirmed him in his new role overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, established last fall to inject capital into banks hit hard from the mortgage crisis.

East Timor president hopes to edge out Australia in pipeline bid

Geneva (AP) — East Timor’s president said Wednesday venture partners in a vast underwater oil and gas field would be better served if they choose to lay a deep sea pipeline to his country instead of Australia.

President Jose Ramos-Horta said he hopes agreement on where to pump oil and gas from the Greater Sunrise field will be reached by the end of the year.

The field is contains about 300 million barrels of light oil and 8.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas worth around $90 billion. It is closer to East Timor’s shores but with a deep trench known as the Timor Trough in the way.

Australia and its largest oil company, Woodside Petroleum Ltd., said it would be cheaper and safer to build a pipeline to Darwin in northern Australia.

But Woodside has said in the past that the venture partners would consider the results of an independent study commissioned by East Timor.

Excess oil and gas from Greater Sunrise and other fields in the region would be sold to generate revenue for East Timor, Ramos-Horta said.

The Southeast Asian country earns some $100 million from oil and gas exports monthly, and has built up foreign currency reserves of almost $5 billion while having almost no debt.

Swiss engineering firm Sulzer cuts 1,400 jobs

Winterthur, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss engineering company Sulzer AG said Wednesday it is cutting 1,400 jobs — or about 11 percent of its global work force — because of the economic downturn.

Most of the jobs will go in Europe and the Americas.

The Winterthur-based company said it hopes to achieve most of the cuts through voluntary redundancies and aims to save $103 million in costs a year as a result.

Sulzer makes pumps, coatings and chemical stacks.

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