Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210126
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEWPORT NEWS - Canon Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to build a $40 million plant to build solar-energy panels, less than than a month after Gov. Douglas Wilder signed a bill authorizing up to $4.5 million in annual state grants to companies that make the panels in Virginia.
Canon's plant will employ 300 initially and eventually could hire 500 people, said Julius A. Denton III, president of the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council.
Canon already employs more than 1,200 workers in Virginia at a copier factory in Newport News and a parts plant in Tappahannock.
The new plant will be operated by United Solar Systems Corp., a partnership between Tokyo-based Canon and Energy Conversion Devices Inc. of Troy, Mich. United Solar makes solar cells using a type of silicon that Canon uses in the photocopiers it assembles in Newport News.
Canon and Energy Conversion Devices formed the joint venture in 1990.
The venture manufactures solar cells in Troy and employs 94 people. It had revenues of $8 million last year.
The new plant in Newport News will use new solar cell technology that can convert sunlight to energy faster and will be useful during peak-load periods, said a spokeswoman for Canon USA, the parent company. - Associated Press
Children's tea sets recalled for lead
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday asked parents to check their children's toy china tea and diner dishware sets, some of which are being recalled because they contain potentially harmful levels of lead.
The lead in these toy tea sets could leach into food or beverages stored and served in them and cause illnesses. Long-term health problems could result from chronic exposure to the lead.
The products have been recalled by their distributors, Chilton- Globe Inc. of Manitowoc, Wis.; Friendly Home Parties Inc. of Albany, N.Y.; McCrory Corp. of York, Pa.; and Lillian Vernon Corp. of Mount Vernon, N.Y., after FDA sampling of products detected excessive lead levels.
The items recalled are labeled as Chilton Toys, Barbie China, Holly Hobbie China, Cabbage Patch Kids China, Campbell's Soup China, Friendly Home Parties Porcelain, Porcelain Tea Set for Children and McCrory's Children's Tea Set. - Staff report
by CNB