THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090438
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
AT&T plans for return to local phone service
Just hours after a major telecommunications reform became law Thursday, AT&T Corp. described plans to expand into the $90 billion local telephone market as early as this summer. The company said it already has received authorization to provide local telephone service in California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Tennessee, Maryland and Wisconsin. It is also seeking permission to enter the local markets of Connecticut, Georgia and New Jersey, he added. The new bill provides an incentive for local Bell companies because they first have to open their local markets to competition before they are eligible to expand into long-distance service. (AP) U.S. home ownership hits 14-year high
Home ownership in the United States climbed in 1995 to its highest level in 14 years. HUD released statistics at the conference showing that 1.4 million Americans became homeowners last year, pushing the national ownership rate to 65.1 percent in the final three months of the year. That's the highest level since 1981. The rate was 64.2 percent in the final quarter of 1994 and the rise of 0.9 percentage point was the biggest increase in three decades. The improvement showed ``a strong economy and the desire for families to invest their hard-earned money in a home,'' he said. (AP)
ValuJet Airlines opens reservations center
ValuJet Airlines officially opened a reservation center Thursday in the old Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport terminal. The center employs about 200 people and could eventually employ 600. The upstart ValuJet is challenging USAir and Delta Air Lines, in the East with low-fare travel through its hub in Atlanta. The airline began flying four daily round-trip flights to Atlanta out of the Peninsula airport in July 1995. The center will be staffed by TAD Aviation Services and managed by Dakota Reservations Inc. (Staff)
Crestar to buy mortgage
unit from Ryland
Crestar Financial Corp. said its Crestar Mortgage Corp. subsidiary has agreed to acquire Ryland Funding Group, a wholesale mortgage-banking unit of Ryland Mortgage Co. in Columbia, Md. Ryland Funding, with offices in Reston, Va., Denver, Oak Brook, Ill., and Laguna Hill, Ca., originated about $750 million of mortgages in 1995. Richmond-based Crestar said it will merge Ryland Funding's operations into the wholesale mortgage-banking division of Crestar Mortgage. (Staff)
Rite Aid, Revco assets
to be sold by FTC
The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it appointed trustees to sell pharmacy assets in Rite Aid Corp. and Revco D.S. Inc. stores in three states after the companies failed to meet deadlines for the sales. The FTC required that pharmacies in Bucksport and Lincoln, Maine, and Berlin, N.H., be sold by Dec. 21, 1995, as a condition of approval of the company's acquisition of LaVerdiere's Enterprises Inc. in 1994. That same year, it ordered Revco to sell pharmacies in Marion and Covington, Va., as part of that company's acquisition of the Hook-SupeRx drugstore chain. Rite Aid and Revco themselves plan to merge, creating the largest drugstore chain in the country. Rite Aid's $966 million offer for Revco expires Feb. 15. (Bloomberg Business News)
Frito-Lay to buy Eagle
Snack plants from Busch
Anheuser-Busch is cashing in its chips to Frito-Lay. Anheuser-Busch Cos. said it will sell four of its five Eagle Snacks plants, including one in North Carolina, to No. 1 snack-maker Frito-Lay, which may result in as many as 1,750 job cuts. Frito-Lay will buy plants in Robersonville, N.C.; Fayetteville, Tenn.; Visalia, Calif.; and York, Pa.; by the end of the month. A fifth plant in Hyannis, Mass., will continue operating for 60 days while the company seeks a buyer. Anheuser-Busch will retain the Eagle trademark and will continue to seek a purchaser for its salted nut business. Frito-Lay plans to reconfigure the plants to produce potato chips, tortilla chips and pretzels, and intends to rehire many previous employees. (Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)
Ice Capades gets
new producer/managers
DelWilber + Associates, which purchased Ice Capades Inc. from International Family Entertainment Inc. in December, has hired a Studio City, Calif.-based company to produce and manage the famed ice show. Beachport Entertainment Corp.'s On Ice Inc. is also in preliminary talks about merging with the Ice Capades. On Ice produces ice shows featuring figure skating stars just like the Ice Capades. Founded by Pat Robertson, Virginia Beach-based IFE loaned DelWilber $10.2 million to buy the Ice Capades and retained the right to convert that loan into majority ownership in the McLean-based sports management firm run by Del Wilber, a former Philadelphia Phillies baseball player. (Staff)
Continental, CSA Czech
agree to code-share
Continental Airlines Inc. said it will share reservation codes with CSA Czech Airlines, making it easier for travelers to fly from the United States to Prague and, eventually, to other Eastern European cities. The agreement will be implemented in two phases, beginning April 1, Continental said. It also should ease travel for passengers flying from Prague to Newark, N.J., and then on to other U.S. cities. Code sharing allows airlines to use common flight designations so passengers can make reservations on one partner airline through the other. Such agreements also generally allow passengers to accrue frequent-flier miles on both carriers. (Bloomberg)
Days Inn chain sued
over disabled facilities
The Justice Department sued the Days Inn hotel chain Thursday, contending that at least five of its hotels failed to provide facilities for disabled travelers required under a landmark 1990 law. Five lawsuits, filed in U.S. District courts in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and South Dakota, are the first under the Americans with Disabilities Act that challenge design and construction of a building erected after the law took effect, the department said. The suits seek court orders requiring Days Inn of America Inc.; its parent, Hospitality Franchise Systems Inc.; and the five hotels' individual owners, architects and general contractors to correct each violation and pay a civil penalty of up to $50,000. (AP)
KEYWORDS: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWSUIT by CNB