PUD focusing on energy efficiency
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 20, 2001
Companies and agencies with new energy-efficient technologies will discuss their products today during a free event for Snohomish County PUD’s commercial and industrial customers. Topics include new developments in adjustable-speed drives, motors, compressed-air industrial wastewater, and lighting. The PUD and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance are sponsoring the event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at PUD headquarters, 2320 California St., Everett.
President Bush took American business leaders to task Wednesday for “abysmal” donations to religious charities, imploring corporations to support groups trying to make lives better. Bush said too many companies “just can’t give and don’t want to give to organizations whose intent it is, is to exist in neighborhood after neighborhood to solve people’s lives by helping their souls.”
Pilots at Delta Air Lines ratified a new, five-year contract with the company Wednesday, making the pilots the highest-paid in the industry and removing the threat of a strike at the airline that flies the most passengers. The contract was approved by 70 percent of Delta’s roughly 9,800 pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association said. A majority was required for passage. More than 97 percent of the pilots voted.
The slumping U.S. economy may be poised for a rebound, according to a key gauge of future economic activity. The New York-based Conference Board said Wednesday its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.5 percent to 109.3 in May, moving higher for a second straight month and beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.3 percent increase. Higher stock prices and lower interest rates drove the index upward last month, helping set the stage for improvement in the business climate, economists said. “This is telling you things are dismal now, but they’re going to get better,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday he’s not worried that the new $1.35 trillion tax cut might plunge the federal budget into deficit. On another economic issue, Greenspan said that a recent increase in job layoffs – new claims for state unemployment insurance have risen to more than 400,000 a week – will affect consumers’ confidence and willingness to keep buying. However, he added, there hasn’t been “any real serious deterioration” in spending.
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