Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 8, 1993 TAG: 9307080108
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune and Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Gov. Jim Hunt seized control of the N.C. Railroad Co. Wednesday, on the eve of the public-private company's annual shareholders' meeting, by replacing eight of its 15 directors.
The move will allow Hunt to control how the board negotiates with Norfolk Southern Corp. on a new lease governing use of the NCRR's strategically located 317-mile rail line. The current 99-year lease, through which the NCRR gets almost all of its income, expires at the end of 1994.
The state wants to use the rail line for economic development, including the development of high-speed passenger rail and luring new industries, as opposed to the minority stockholders' interest in improving their negligible return on investment. - Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Jobless benefits just got shorter
WASHINGTON - Because of a barely perceptible dip in the unemployment rate, the government is cutting about in half the number of weeks that newly laid-off American workers can receive jobless benefits.
When Congress passed a $5.7 billion emergency jobless benefits bill last March, it ordered the duration of payments reduced if the national unemployment rate dropped below 7 percent over a two-month period, a Labor Department spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The jobless rate slipped to 6.9 percent in May before edging back to 7 percent in June. Still, the average for May and June remained below 7 percent.
People filing first-time claims for benefits after Sunday will receive them for 15 weeks instead of 26 weeks in Alaska, California, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. In the other states and territories, the length of payments will drop to 10 weeks from 20 weeks. - Associated Press
Fake-Coke probe targets Ohio man
AKRON, Ohio - The FBI has identified a Youngstown businessman once convicted of paying kickbacks to a government contractor as the target of an investigation into counterfeit Coca-Cola.
John R. Sabatino, owner of Holly Beverage Co. of Youngstown, was identified in a government affidavit made public this week in U.S. District Court.
The affidavit said Sabatino also was under investigation for possible counterfeiting of government food stamps.
Several thousand 2-liter bottles of fake Coke were seized last week in Youngstown, Massillon, Willoughby and Madison Township in Lake County.
The court affidavit said Sabatino was convicted in 1989 of paying kickbacks to a contractor at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. He was sentenced to four years in prison. - Associated Press
Earnings . . .
Charter Federal Savings Bank has reported income of $2.2 million, or 61 cents a share, for the quarter ended June 30, compared with $513,000, or 14 cents a share, for the same quarter last year.
Charter took a provision for losses of $982,000 compared to $1.2 million for the prior quarter. Total nonperforming assets decreased from $20.5 million to $18.3 million.
The three-month period ended June 40 is the fourth quarter of the company's fiscal year. The bank said it would report annual results later.
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