| Auto glass plant awaits sale
When it's your business, you don't really watch the pennies, much less the nickels, than if you're buying it from outside." John Novak, an analyst at Morningstar, a financial research firm in Chicago, expects an agreement to be reached on wages, health care, number of jobs and how they areallocated among the different plants Glass Products bought. "There are a number of levers that can be pulled here," Novak said. Kitz also declined to disclose what specific incentives Glass Products would be seeking from Metro and state officials, but said the company was confident it would be able to close the deal. "We're not looking at negative contingencies," Kitz said. Dean Flener, a spokesman with Tennessee's Department of Economic and Community Development, said that the state has a set of requirements for companies to receive incentives, including tax credits.
Publisher’s Notebook
Because I have worked with video security cameras, people have often asked me what I think of red light cameras. I know there are a lot of you out there who thrive on rules and want to make sure everybody follows them, but I simply do not like these cameras. I know that most people deserve the tickets they get. When I went to traffic school 20 years ago because I had one too many, the teacher asked everyone there which of them were there because of speeding. About 80 percent said they were. Then he asked how many were there because of going 10 miles an hour over the limit. All raised their hands. The police are there for public safety reasons, and with 35,000+ Americans a year dying in car accidents, I am glad for their presence. For me the general rule of automanship is safety.
Lawmakers propose cleaning up lawn mower emissions
Those polluting engine-powered mowers that are a staple of suburban lawn care would become much cleaner under emission limits proposed Tuesday.
The regulators' proposal follows a long-running dispute between California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, who has sought to block the change in order to protect a small-engine maker in his home state, Briggs & Stratton Corp.
Engines under 50 horsepower, which are mostly used to power walk-behind and riding mowers, account for up to 10 percent of summertime smog-forming emissions in some parts of the country.
The Environmental Protection Agency's proposal would cut smog-forming emissions from the engines by 35 percent. The reductions would probably be accomplished by adding catalytic converters that reduce pollution from exhaust.
EDITORIAL/ Landscape ordinance
Author and court lady Sei Shonagon so admired the sceneries of erstwhile Kyoto that she wrote about them in "The Pillow Book" in the late 10th to 11th centuries. She described the purple-tinged clouds trailing through the sky at dawn in spring, and crows flying away in haste at dusk in autumn. But such sights are hard to find in today's Kyoto, where high-rise apartment buildings continue to replace traditional wooden townhouses known as machiya. The "1,000-year capital" is undergoing drastic changes. At this rate, the city will soon turn into a "mini Tokyo." Amid a brewing sense of crisis, the city of Kyoto passed the "city view and scenery creation ordinance" aimed at protecting its cityscape. The municipal assembly unanimously approved the ordinance, which, according to the mayor, "looks ahead 100 years into the future." The ordinance designates sites where the view should be preserved.
Missing Guanabanas? Mark your calendar for Sept. 3
John Zimmerman, in the Bobcat, together with, from left, Justin Bayliss of D'Allessandro Landscaping, Arturo Centeno of Guanabanas and Richie Meyer of Rick Meyer Construction, prepare to reposition the tree trunk that serves as the signpost for Guanabanas as part of the newly installed palm forest at the popular restaurant. Work is moving head for Guanabanas, which obtained its necessary permits on Friday. By Labor Day, Zimmerman, one of the owners, says the restaurant will be up and running again. .
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