ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 1996            TAG: 9612040052
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 

IN BUSINESS

Keating has hopes for new witnesses

LOS ANGELES - At a new trial, former Lincoln Savings and Loan boss Charles Keating Jr. hopes to call witnesses he says were too intimidated to testify when he was convicted of fraud in state and federal courts.

Atop the list: Texas real estate tycoon Gene Phillips, who like Keating used an S&L to fund his deals, and C.V. ``Jim'' Nalley, a Georgia car dealer ensnared in the Arizona desert land deals through which Keating was accused of cheating investors and taxpayers.

Keating, whose junk bond sales to the elderly and nose-thumbing to regulators epitomized the 1980s S&L debacle, has spent four years and nine months in various jails and prisons. But his state conviction was overturned in April, and his federal conviction was voided Monday because the jurors knew of the state case.

U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer granted Keating's plea for a new trial on Monday, and on Tuesday she granted a new trial for his son, Charles Keating III, who was convicted at the same trial. She ordered the prosecution and defense in both cases back to court Jan. 16 for a conference.

- Associated Press

UVa opens institute in microelectronics

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Hoping to forge close-knit relationships with the state's high-tech industries, the University of Virginia has created an academic institute in the field of microelectronics.

The institute will enable UVa faculty to work directly with companies on new technology issues.

``The real goal is to accelerate the rate at which new technology can be developed in the university's laboratories and then transferred to industry,'' said Barry Johnson, an electrical engineering professor and director of the institute.

- Associated Press

Briefly

* WDRG (Channel 24) has named Joblin+Associates as its sales and marketing representative. The television station, based in Danville, serves Southwest Virginia including Roanoke, Lynchburg and Danville. Joblin+Associates is a broadcast sales and management consulting firm based in Little Rock, Ark.

* Rowe Furniture Corp., McLean-based maker of upholstered furniture with its operations base in Salem, this week launched the Rowe Furniture Home Page at http://www. rowefurniture.com. Rowe said the web site will provide a comprehensive view of the company, from the environmentally safe foam in the cushions to dividend and other information about its common stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. One section contains photos and descriptions of selected sofas, chairs and sleepers.

LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines