Flood victims can apply for loans in Stanwood
Published 10:34 pm Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Small Business Administration is opening a disaster center at the Stanwood- Camano Fairgrounds on Thursday to provide disaster aid to homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes affected by the recent floods.
The center will be in the Youth Exhibit Hall, 6431 Pioneer Highway, Stanwood. It will be open from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday and will continue from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The first thing people need to do is to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they can do by calling 800-621-3362. Then SBA representatives will be available to help people get low-interest loans for repair or replacement projects on homes, personal property or businesses damaged by the floods but not fully covered by insurance.
Wal-Mart results beat expectations
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it’s still pulling shoppers away from its main rivals and enjoying a rise in customer traffic as the world’s largest retailer released better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday. Wal-Mart’s fourth-quarter profit fell 7.4 percent to $3.79 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the quarter ended Jan. 31, dragged down by the strong dollar and a charge from settling labor lawsuits. That compares with $4.096 billion, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier. Despite the loss, shares of Wal-Mart rose more than 3 percent while the Dow Jones Industrials dropped more than 3 percent as investors grew more wary about the government’s stimulus plan.
Business jets post decline
Battered by recession and bad publicity, sales of general-aviation aircraft favored by businesses fell last year for the first time in five years. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association, a trade group for the industry, said Tuesday that shipments fell 7.1 percent last year. The decline was concentrated in the least-expensive planes, piston-driven models, but is spreading to more costly turboprops and jets, said an official of the group. The trade group said shipments declined to 3,969 last year from 4,272 in 2007. But manufacturers’ billings rose 13.4 percent, to $24.8 billion, an order backlog.
Nokia plans cell phone service
Nokia Corp. is launching a new service that will sell applications, ring tones and other content for its cell phones, giving it a more unified front against similar platforms run by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. The new Ovi Store will be similar to Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and Google’s software marketplace for Android phones, but it will extend the concept by also selling other downloads such as background images and videos. The store will open in May and will be accessible to about 50 million existing mid- to high-end Nokia phones through a software upgrade.
From Herald staff and news services
