Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 24

Today's tip 8B Thursday, September 8, 1988 Reno Gazette-Journal BUSINESS EDITOR: JIM GOLD, 788-6322 tasmes "How to Save Thousands on Your Home Mortgage" explains the advantages ot pre-paying a mortgage. Cost: $6. Write: Financial Information Services, P.O. Box 504, Woodbridge, N.J. 07095.

Consortium pursues energy park near Wells By Jim GoldGazetta-Joumal Sierra Pacific Resources of Reno and seven partners are pursuing permits and licenses for a $4 billion complex of coal-fired power plants in northeast Nevada, consortium members said Wednesday. The Thousand Springs project group, holding a monthly policy session at Bally's Reno, said the consortium plans to build by 1994 the first of eight 250-megawatt plants that could eventually light up homes of 2 million Westerners. The plants, on 2,000 acres about 30 miles northeast of Wells, will produce competitively priced electricity that can be sold wholesale to utilities in Nevada and other Western states where power demands are growing, group members said. "Everything we see from the Department of Energy shows a real need for more power," said Joe L. Gremban, president and chief executive officer of Sierra Pacific Resources, which owns 14.5 percent of Thousand Springs.

Higher demand comes from population growth, Construction is expected to start in 1991. Each of the eight plants would cost about $450 million, but wouldn't be built until electricity sales were assured. The consortium's announcement Wednesday follows a withdrawal last spring by four partners after a Securities and Exchange Commission ruling allowed the project to go forward. Two partners have been replaced and negotiations with other potential investors are under way, consortium members said Wednesday. The current consortium lineup includes: Sierra Pacific Resources, holding company of Lands of Sierra real estate company, Sierra Pacific Power the area's major power utility, Westpac Utilities, a natural gas and water purveyor, and Sierra Energy, a natural gas and oil exploration company.

Bonneville Pacific Corp. of Salt Lake City, an independent power producer that has experience developing other power projects. Hilton breaks ground for Las Vegas casino LAS VEGAS Hilton Nevada Corp. broke ground for a $30 million casino on the Las Vegas Strip Wednesday, part of a $300 million investment planned in the state in 1988 and 1989. The Irish-themed casino, to be known as O'Shea's, will be built at the north end of the Flamingo Hilton.

The five-story structure will include three floors for parking, and is scheduled to open June 1. John V. Giovenco, president of Hilton Nevada said the company's expansion plans include: $74 million in refurbishing at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1988 and 1989. $60 million for a new tower at the Flamingo Hilton, giving it a total of 3,700 rooms. $127 million for a planned hotel and casino at Laughlin.

$30 million for the new casino on the Las Vegas Strip. $7 million in renovation work on the Reno Hilton. Small gain on Wall Street NEW YORK The stock market settled for some small and spotty gains Wednesday after an early advance faded. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, up more than 10 points in the early going, closed with a 0.53 gain at 2,065.79. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 5 to 4 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 825 up, 642 down and 489 unchanged.

Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 139.59 million shares, against 122.25 million in the previous session. Icahn's TWA plan OK'd NEW YORK Shareholders of Trans World Airlines Inc. overwhelmingly have approved Chairman Carl C. Icahn's proposal to buy their shares and take the nation's seventh-largest airline private. But opposition to the move mounted Wednesday among TWA employees as the pilots union sued Icahn in New York State Supreme Court to block the privatization.

The approval had been widely expected by financial analysts and TWA employees. Causey Drexstl off ff raw mn. ii i.n mi urn 'I I ml I -v-- -vl mm WI Mtt" 'W Sffl water-purification projects and the general economic development of the West, he said. Energy Department analyses shows the West between 1994 and 1997 will need more electricity than what is already available. After the meeting, Joyce Hall, executive director of the Utility Shareholders Association of Nevada, said, "Independent power projects appear to be the wave of the future.

Indications are that there will be a need for additional power supplies the demand will be especially high in drought years when there is less hydropower available." Gremban said the Bureau of Land Management recently held hearings in Elko County to determine the type and scope of studies necessary for the project's environmental approvals. An environmental impact statement is due in July 1990 and is expected to be finalized by the end of that year. Consortium members expect to spend $12 million for permits and licenses. Michael Bladow, a retired dentist. Both are Reno residents.

Philipp said they have franchise rights to Carson City, Truckee and Lake Tahoe as well as Reno and Sparks, and the next two stores could open in any of these areas. Managers have hired about 90 people to work at the new Sparks restaurant, which encompasses 3,000 square feet and seats 82 people. Philipp said the location was chosen because it could attract a mix of residential, commercial and industrial business. mart is right next door to the restaurant, and Shopko is across the street. Also, Sparks High School is not far away, he said.

While an array of fast-food restau TV Jl x' Coastal States Energy Co. of Salt Lake City, a coal-producing subsidiary of Coastal a diversified energy exploration company with 900 million tons of coal reserves. Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. of Clinton, N.J., a wholly owned subsidiary of Foster Wheeler a multibillion-dol-lar firm specializing in design, engineering, construction and management of energy plants and other large industrial developments. Robert L.

Helms Construction and Development Co. of Sparks, a general engineering contracting firm engaged in highway construction, railroad and subdivision construction and gravel quarry operations. Kidder Peabody Co. Inc. of New York, an investment banking firm.

The Pittsburg Midway Coal Mining Co. of Englewood, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp. with control Soe ENERGY, page SB firm, Milken face insider trading charges By John M. DoyleAP NEW YORK The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil insider trading charges Wednesday against the investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and Michael Milken, the head of its junk bond trading unit.

The 184-page civil complaint, filed at U.S. District Court in New York, alleged "fraudulent conduct involving insider trading, stock manipulation, fraud on Drexel's own clients, failure to disclose beneficial ownership of securities and numerous other violations." The SEC said it would seek to have the defendants give up the profits Milken made on the affected stock trades and pay a penalty of three times the profits. The agency offered no specific figure, but Sen. William Proxmire, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said the SEC was seeking $100 million. Frederick H.

Joseph, chief executive officer of Drexel, reiterated the company's position that it would be absolved of the charges, while Milken also denied any wrongdoing. The SEC had said previously that it planned to file a civil complaint against Drexel but had not released details of its case. The SEC's move capped months of speculation that the government had assembled an extensive case against the firm as a result of the investigation into Wall Street abuses spawned by the Ivan Boesky insider trading scandal. According to the complaint, Drexel and Milken, of Encino, had a "secret arrangement with Boesky" involving at least 16 series of illegal securities transactions. Under that agreement, the SEC claimed that Boesky-controlled companies secretly bought, sold or held securities for Drexel or other individual defendants and that sometimes Drexel reciprocated with secret transactions for Boesky.

The SEC alleged that employees of Drexel and Boesky companies kept secret, off-the-books records of securities positions taken as part of the arrangement. Boesky was forced nearly two years ago to surrender a record $100 million in penalties and illegal profits from trading on insider information. See INSIDER, page 5B Former junior analyst admits insider trading NEW YORK (AP) A former Morgan Stanley Co. rookie analyst pleaded guilty Wednesday to the first criminal charges stemming from what the govern ment has called the second-largest insider trading case in Wall Street history. Stephen Sui-Kuan Wang 24, also agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge in connection with a separate, previously undis- Wang closed insider trading arrangement he allegedly undertook when he first began working for the prestigious investment firm in June 1986.

The charges, filed in Manhattan federal court and outlined by U.S. Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, marked the first criminal charges in the scandal, which was first disclosed in a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission in late June. Giuliani said Wang was cooperating with the government and that the investigation was continuing, an indication that others may be charged. FIRST DAY: Dawn Phillips, right, explains procedures to employees at the new Jack In The Box springs international services department Judge blocks acquisition LOS ANGELES A federal judge has issued a restraining order temporarily blocking the $2.5 billion merger of Lucky supermarkets into American Stores, saying the combination threatens serious irreversible harm to Californians.

U.S. District Judge David Kenyon said Wednesday he would hold a hearing Sept. 16 on whether to grant a preliminary injunction requested by California Attorney General John Van de Kamp, who wants a trial to decide whether the merger of the two supermarket giants is anti-competitive. WPPSS fraud trial opens TUCSON, Ariz. The Washington Public Power Supply System fraud trial opened Wednesday with lawyers making last-minute motions before today's planned start of jury selection.

Attorney Kenneth Kieffer, representing some of the defendants, said WPPSS operated in a fish bowl of publicity in the 1970s, and it therefore would have been difficult or impossible for his clients to commit fraud. But attorney Paul Bernstein of New York, representing thousands of claimants in the class action lawsuit, said that while some WPPSS meetings were open to the public and the media, other gatherings of utility officials were regularly closed, making fraud indeed possible. People Scott Anderson ROGER SCOTT has been named director of human resources at the Eldorado HotelCasino in Reno. Scott, a psychology graduate of the University of California-Riverside, started in the casino industry in 1978, working in various personnel capacities at Harrah's Tahoe and Caesars Tahoe as employee relations counselor, compensation and benefits manager and employee relations director. Most recently Scott was director of human resources at John Ascuaga's Nugget.

CHRIS ANDERSON has been named director of supply sales at Silver State Business Products. His duties include purchasing of all retail supply inventory, supply sales and new equipment training. Wire service and staff reports Mark ZaleaklGazette-Journai Jack In The Box in Sparks. up in Sparks rants compete for business in the area, store manager Dawn Phillips said that could actually help attract customers. "Sometimes just being around a lot of other fast-food places draws people into the area," she said.

Jack In The Box first opened in Reno two years ago. Bladow was vacationing in Reno when he saw there were no Jack In The Boxes, Philipp said, adding that they decided then to open one. Philipp said he is happy with the way the business has grown in the Reno-Sparks area. "We just try to pay competitive wages and treat people properly so they will stay with us," he said. There are 920 Jack In The Box restaurants nationwide.

Also, Miller said, "Nevada's favorable business environment, combined with efforts by the state to attract companies doing business on an international level, has boosted our importexport business significantly over the past few years." Before FIB's new service, international businesses have had to take care of their foreign banking needs mostly in San Francisco, said Kenneth Lynn, executive director of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. With the addition of FIB's new service, Nevada will be more attractive and easier to market to companies considering moving to Nevada, he said. FIB's two-person department, which was created after a year of development, will be headed by Darby Watson, vice president and international business development officer. its up to $100,000. The most profitable year for banking was 1985, when the industry posted earnings of $18.1 billion.

The April-June period of 1988 was the second most profitable quarter on record, after the July-September quarter of last year, when banks reported $5.8 billion in net income. However, the banking picture remained bleak in Texas, a state troubled by soured real estate prices and a depression in the oil industry. Banks there lost $2.9 billion in the first half, with $2.3 billion of that attributable to a single institution: First RepublicBank Corp. of Dallas, which has since been rescued with $4 billion. By Veda AndersonGazette-Journai Jack In The Box, a relative newcomer to the fast-food industry in northern Nevada, has a new home in Sparks.

The third area restaurant opened Wednesday at 2289 Oddie in Paradise Plaza. The other two restaurants are in Reno at 2001 Kietzke Lane and in Smithridge Plaza on McCarran Boulevard. Ron Philipp, part owner of the three restaurants, said at least two more will open within the next two years. "What we're trying to do is build one a year," he said. "They're profitable." Philipp, who was a district manager for Jack In The Box in San Diego, owns the three restaurants along with FIB implements By Lisa OvensGazette-Joumal First Interstate Bank of Nevada is opening the state's first international banking services department to aid the state's import and export businesses, FIB executives announced Wednesday.

Services include importexport financing, foreign currency purchases, wire transfers and import letters of credit. An additional service, Trade Pro, will provide an automated letter of credit for exporters and will allow them electronically to generate and transmit shipping documents to the bank. And through its electronic mail function, Trade Pro gives exporters and importers immediate notice of incoming letters of credit. "The international services department has been developed to meet the needs of one of the fastest-growing segments of Banks having a WASHINGTON (AP) The nation's commercial banks enjoyed their most profitable six months on record through June this year, despite continuing losses in Texas, the government said Wednesday. "You could hardly ask for better," said Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Chairman L. William Seidman. Commercial banks earned $10.5 billion in the first and second quarters this year, topping the $9.7 billion in net income for the second and third quarters of 1985, which had been the most profitable six months since the FDIC began keeping track in 1934. our economy importexport business," said President Ronald M. Zurek.

There are about 250 exporters and 133 importers headquartered in Nevada, he added. Studies conducted for FIB show Nevada's exports of manufactured goods jumped nearly 24 percent to more than $242 million in 1987 from $195 million in 1980. Those same studies showed imports totaled $1.2 billion in 1987, ranking Nevada 35th in the country. Lt. Gov.

Bob Miller, who also is chairman of the state commissions on economic development and tourism, said a poll of 100 domestic and foreign businesses based in Nevada showed the "No. 1 concern regarding foreign competition is a lack of international banking in our state." banner year despite Texas setbacks In the first half of last year, banks lost $5.4 billion. The big loss was almost entirely attributable to huge reserves set aside by the largest banks for expected losses on loans to Third World countries. Banks haven't seen the need to build those reserves further this year and are thus earning strong profits. Banks set aside $916 million on foreign loans in the first six months of this year, compared with $16.4 billion in the same period a year ago.

"We think we will see record profits for the year if the economy continues on its current level," said Seidman, whose agency insures commercial banks depos.