ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 12, 1991                   TAG: 9103120013
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BANKRUPTCY PETITIONS UP 50%

The number of businesses seeking protection from creditors last month rose a dramatic 50 percent, according to a new report from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Roanoke.

The court received 48 bankruptcy petitions from businesses in February compared to 32 in February 1990 but down 9.4 percent from 53 petitions in January.

For the first two months of the year, 101 businesses have entered petitions in the court compared to 56 during the same period in 1990, an increase of 80 percent.

Also in Monday's regional economic index:

Norfolk Southern Corp. reported loading 20,882 coal cars last week, down 0.7 percent from 21,034 cars in a comparable week last year but up 10.8 percent from 18,852 cars the prior week.

> The Virginia Employment Commission said the area's unemployment rate in January was 3.9 percent, up from a revised 3.3 percent in January 1990.

> Local banks cleared checks worth $147,113,021 against each other last week, down 43.6 percent from last year's $260,850,530 but up 6.9 percent from the prior week's $137,614,293. - Staff report 


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