The Des Moines Register du lieu suivant : Des Moines, Iowa • Page 26

excite Hloincs Kfjistcr LYNN HICKS, Executive Business Editor, 51 5-284-8290e-mail: lhicksdmreg.com December 13, 2005 MARKETS wton track movin uv glii Manaco Corp. says it will guarantee $40 million of construction for the Iowa Speedway. BONDS 10r. Treasuries 4.55 0.02 DOW 30 Industrials 10,767.77 10.81 A-A Newton has agreed to invest $16 million in the project, with about $4 million going to developers. State lawmakers also have agreed to allow developers to forgo payment of up to $12.5 million in sales taxes from the project.

Brad Manatt said that as a result of the new funding deal, Manaco will increase its stake by an undisclosed percentage in the track's developer, US. Motorsports Entertainment Corp. hard-hit economy. Local and state officials have promised about $35 million in government assistance to the track. The Manatts funding means "the faucet is back on full blast," Newton Mayor Chaz Allen said Monday.

Work on the project was thrown into question after the city of Newton withheld approval of about $12 million worth of improvements, such as roads leading to the track. That situation developed been spent building the 0.875-mile-long track, and personnel have been hired. He said it was important to keep funding going so that track promoters could book races. City officials had also warned that a road leading to the track wouldn't be ready for opening day if work failed to begin next spring. Allen said Manaco's guarantee should serve as proof of funding for the track because attorneys for the city weren't convinced that the project had sufficient private funding, in particular from an Atlanta sports company named UBG Financial Corp.

Track and city officials had little to say Monday about the absence of UBG. But Brad Manatt, president of Manatts, said "we needed to make a commitment to our team so they could proceed." Brad Manatt said more than $15 million already has said it has secured a loan from Wells Fargo Co. that allows it to move forward to complete the track in time for an inaugural race Sept. 15, 2006. Developers say the track would draw about 286,000 spectators a year who would spend $55 million on tickets, food, lodging and other goods, boosting Newton's ByS.P.

DINNEN REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER The Iowa Speedway got a fresh start Monday when one of its early backers said it will guarantee $40 million worth of construction at the Newton auto-racing track. Manaco parent of Brooklyn, construction company Manatts NASDAQ 500 Composite 2,260.95 4.22 1,260.43 1.06 '1 Montezuma firm, Iowa Telecom reach deal .4 "fcww A 1 5 4 GARY FANDELTHE REGISTBR 4, The tapper: David Hsu, left, a scientist with Iowa State University's Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, glides a device known as a CATT over an airplane part Wednesday in Ames, as scientist Dan Barnard uses a computer to analyze the results. No longer playing it by ear By FRANK VINLUAN REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER Iowa Telecom has agreed to buy Montezuma Mutual Telephone Co. for nearly $10.5 million, the company announced Monday. The deal still must be approved by state and federal regulators, but it represents some "firsts" for Newton-based Iowa Telecom.

It is the company's first purchase of an independent phone company. The deal also includes Montezuma's wireless phone and cable television assets the first such services to fall under Iowa Telecom's umbrella of customer options. Iowa Telecom spokesman Dan Eness declined to comment on the prospect of wireless or video services being offered throughout its territory. He said the deal helps the company grow in Poweshiek County. "They serve an area we're really interested in serving," Eness said.

Iowa Telecom, the state's second largest local phone company, serves primarily rural areas. Closely held Montezuma Mutual Telephone was founded in 1919 by the local McFarlane family, which still has majority ownership. During the summer, Montezuma hired Mazer Telecom Advisors of Denver, to explore a sale, General Manager Francis Freeborn said. Iowa Telecom "came to the table right away," Freeborn said. No one else bid.

Since Iowa Telecom went public last year, financial analysts have asked executives about possible acquisitions. They say the Iowa market, served by more than 150 independent phone companies, is ready for consolidation. Montezuma serves about 2,200 phone customers, 1,300 cable television subscribers and 900 Internet customers. Eness said there were no plans to lay off Montezuma's seven employees. Once the sale is approved, the company would continue offering voice, Internet and television services for its existing Montezuma and Mahaska County customers.

Iowa Telecom serves about 260,700 telephone lines. It has 27,200 Internet customers served by digital subscriber lines. Reporter Frank Vlnluan can be reached at (515) 284-8211 or (vinluandmreg.com Now, mechanics can use gadget, not audio clues, to troubleshoot planes NEWS OF NOTE Fed expected to raise rates again today While higher interest rates are expected from the Federal Reserve in the months ahead, it's more of a mystery whether policymakers will extend their 18-month credit-tightening campaign beyond Alan Greenspan's tenure. The central bank gradually has increased rates for 18 months to control inflation. At today's meeting, the Fed is expected to add one-quarter of a percentage point to an important short-term interest rate, known as the federal funds rate.

That would mark the 13th such increase since June 2004 and would put the rate at 4.25 percent, the highest in more than four years. If the Fed acts as expected, the prime lending rate for certain credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other loans would increase to 7.25 percent, the highest in more than four years. Whirlpool plans 730 layoffs Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. plans to lay off 730 workers at its refrigerator plant in Fort Smith, Ark. Whirlpool said the workers would lose their jobs next October as the company opens a new plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

Many of the layoffs would be voluntary, and many workers are expected to be recalled within 18 months to fill openings that come about through attrition, the company said. The Fort Smith Whirlpool plant has 4,600 workers, and the company says it has hired nearly 800 new workers since 2003. The plant makes side-by-side refrigerator-freezers, counter-depth refrigerators, trash compactors and ice makers. The company also said it has completed its refrigerator plant at Ramos Arizpe and that 1,000 workers will staff the plant when it opens next year. Benton Harbor, Whirlpool has 68,000 workers among 50 sites worldwide.

Whirlpool had revenues of more than $13 billion last year. Whirlpool warned about two years ago that changes would come to the Fort Smith plant. A year ago, Whirlpool reversed a plan to move ice-maker assembly and 80 jobs from Fort Smith to China. Whirlpool is in the process of acquiring rival Newton-based Maytag Corp. It is expected to close early next year.

Oil: Oil prices climbed by almost $2 a barrel Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to keep its production level steady and cold weather raised concerns about rising demand for home-heating fuels. Crude for January delivery rose $1.91 to $61 .30 a barrel. Gas watch: The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Iowa on Monday was $2.13, according to AAA. Diesel was $2,423. Force were among the CATTs early testers.

After securing a patent, the scientists looked for a company to license, produce and sell the CATT. Several showed interest, but there were no takers. Not wanting the CATT to sit on a shelf, the engineers started Advanced Structural Imaging with their own money. The company uses local suppliers, and the scientists assemble the CATTs themselves. The system, both hardware and software, sells for about $6,000.

Bell Helicopter has been using a CATT for two years. Tony Hamilton, principal engineer for the Fort Worth, Texas, company, said the main advantage is a computer record from each test. The CATT also helps technicians decide whether a part must be repaired or replaced. That can shorten the time an aircraft is out of service. Hsu said the CATTs use is not limited to aircraft; it can test boats, cars or other vehicles or equipment.

The scientists are still working to improve the CATT. Hsu said software that now runs on laptop computers could eventually be configured for Pocket PCs, which are easier for mechanics to carry through a hangar. By FRANK VINLUAN REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER Ames, la. To many airplane mechanics, the best tool to test for damage is the ear. That and perhaps a quarter.

A crisp whacking sound from tapping a plane's exterior means the part is intact. A dull thud suggests damage. Scientists at Iowa State University have added another dimension to this longtime "tap testing" method. Their computerized tapping device creates images of what's below the surface. "The idea was to try to come up with something less hearing-based and more instrument-based, something we could actually quantify," scientist Dan Barnard said.

That idea became a patent. The patent started a small company. Advanced Structural Imaging's customers now range from a boat inspector in France to a helicopter manufacturer in Texas. The tap-testing work started as research for the Federal Aviation Administration. Barnard and colleagues David Hsu and Brian Larson work for the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, a nationally known engineering research center at the university.

In 1999, the FAA funded the center's development of a new method for testing airplane parts. Hsu said the scientists initially pursued an ultrasound device. They dropped that in favor of a method familiar to many mechanics: tap testing. Tap testing is not meant to gauge the structural integrity of an entire plane, Hsu said. Mechanics instead spot-test problem areas.

Damage can occur from striking objects in flight, such as birds. The Ames scientists and several ISU engineering students developed a Computer-Aided Tap Tester, or CATT. A sensor on a handheld device measures each tap in microseconds. That time is converted into an electric signal that the software displays on a screen. A series of taps produces a color-coded image stiff areas appear black, weaker areas are lighter.

American Airlines and Britain's Royal Air Japan lifts import ban on U.S. beef nnnii rr i iH i 1 I 3f ill American producers and Japanese consumers." Industry experts say they do not expect a major impact on the price of cattle or on the cost of beef in U.S. supermarkets. The Bush administration responded to the Japanese move by dropping a mad cow-related ban on imports of Japan's high-end Kobe beef. U.S.

packers face a couple of hurdles in regaining the Japanese market: First, there is the requirement that the beef come from cattle under 21 months of age. Second, See MAD COW, Page 8C Arkansas City, planned to make its first air shipment to Japan on Wednesday or Thursday. Ending the Japanese import ban has been a high priority of the U.S. and Iowa beef industry. Iowa produced nearly 7 percent of the nation's cattle on feed at the beginning of this year.

US. steaks have been traditionally popular in Japan, as well as thinly sliced types of beef used in soup. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, attending international trade talks in Hong Kong, said ending the import ban "is great news for $1.4 billion worth of the product in 2003, before the import ban was imposed following the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in December 2003. "Things will start off slowly," Mark Klein, a spokesman for Cargill Meat Solutions, said Monday.

"It will be three or four years before we get to pre-BSE levels. Still, it's New Year's Eve celebration a little earlier." Cargill plans to make the first shipment of beef from its Fort Morgan, plant this week. Next week, the first Japan-bound beef could leave Cargill's Schuyler, facility, one of several Midwest packing plants that slaughters Iowa cattle. A smaller packer, Creekstone Farms of But tough restrictions mean the impact on the cattle market will be gradual, producers say. By PHILIP BRASHER REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington, D.C.

American beef is headed back to Japan as early as this week with the end of a two-year-old import ban. But meatpackers say it will take months to have adequate supplies of the young cattle necessary to comply with Japanese restrictions and years for U.S. beef sales to fully recover. The new rules will also mean Iowa cattle producers must change the way they do business to verify the ages of their livestock. Japan was the No.

1 foreign market for U.S. beef, buying Hungry for beef: A man peruses the menu Monday at Tokyo's Yoshinoya restaurant, a beef bowl eatery that stopped selling U.S. beef two years ago when Japan imposed a ban due to mad cow disease. KOJI SASAHARAASSOCIATED PRESS.