Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 21

Business Wednesday, May 5, 1993 Reno Gazette-Journal ierra Nevada Laboratories sold for $14 million tem chief financial officer, said the former owner decided to sell the operations to keep lab costs down. Regional laboratories help lower lab costs because such operations can avoid duplication of services and resources, Miller said. In addition, Allied will supply financial and technical support. Washoe Medical Center will take over operations of an SNL lab in the hospital. SNL will continue to operate an outpatient lab at Washoe Professional Center, 75 Prin-gle Way, and six other lose their jobs as a result of the sale, and all salary levels are expected to to remain the same, said Gerard M.

"Gerry" Hayden Allied senior vice president and chief financial officer. Traded on the over-the-counter market under the symbol ACLB, Allied stock closed Tuesday at $21 'A, up Sl'A. During the past year, it has traded as high as $37'i and as low as $15. Sierra Nevada Labs provides laboratory services throughout the Truckee Meadows, northern Nevada and northeast California. On top of $14 million cash paid at closing, Allied will pay Washoe up to an additional $5.5 million over three years, depending on certain operational performance measures.

"Our intentions are to really take the lab as it's now running and continue to run it effectively, and hopefully it'll grow," Hayden said. Washoe Health Systems reached agreement in principal last January to sell the laboratory to Allied. The transaction became complete Monday. Allied's purchase agreement was reached in the wake of Washoe's previous SNL sales agreement with Meris Laboratories of San Jose, which had offered $30 million. That deal fell through for an unannounced reason, amid complaints by some Meris shareholders that they didn't want it to buy SNL for the announced price.

William "Bill" McKnight, who had been SNL chief executive officer, assumed a similar title at Allied. He'll oversee its Reno-based regional laboratory operations. Jim Miller, Washoe Health Sys THE ECONOMY Watching the economy A comparison of the index of leading economic indicators, the government's chief forecasting gauge, and the gross domestic product, the total of goods and services produced in the U.S. Index of leading economic indicators iiclex Mis recession i JL 1981-82 160 Seasonally 15r I i recovery back in doldrams 140 130 -11978 1 0. I I 120 lllfl 1,0 I -i-ri 100 III 60 IS I 1.1 (19781979 1980M981 19821983 194:1985 19861987i1988 '1989i1990 19911992 '93 GAMING TOURISM Gaming ban effort may be delayed PHOENIX Gov.

Fife Symington's plan to call lawmakers back into session in the next few weeks to repeal an anti-gambling law passed two months ago is meeting opposition from some legislative leaders. Repeal of the law, which bans all forms of casino gambling in Arizona, is a condition set by Indian tribes before they will sign compromise gambling compacts with the state. They also insist that the state drop its legal challenge of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Barry M. Aarons, Gov.

Fife Symington's legislative liaison, said the current plan is to sign inter-governmental agreements with the tribes that would commit them to signing the compromise compacts once the state keeps its part of the bargain. But legislative leaders say they want to wait until September to give lawmakers a chance to review the proposed compacts so they know what they're getting into. Monorail to connect two Vegas resorts LAS VEGAS A $15 million, mile-long monorail will connect the MGM Grand and Bally's resorts on the Las Vegas strip, the companies announced Tuesday. Executives of the two resorts said they hope the project will be the first leg of a monorail system that will someday link the Strip with downtown Las Vegas, the city's convention center and McCarran International Airport. The 1 billion MGM Grand is scheduled to open in February and will be the world's largest hotel with 5,005 rooms and a movie theme park, the company said.

Robert Maxey, president and chief executive officer of MGM Grand said the monorail was "sorely needed" because of gridlock conditions brought on by booming growth in the Las Vegas Valley. Harrah's riverboat gets Illinois" blessing JOLIET.Ill. Harrah's Casinos received approval Tuesday from the Illinois Gaming Board to begin gaming operation aboard the Northern Star, Harrah's first riverboat casino in Joliet. The first gaming cruise on the Northern Star departed at 6 p.m. Located on the Des Plaines River in Joliet, near Chicago, Harrah's Northern Star is the first riverboat casino in the U.S.

owned and operated by one of the nation's major casino entertainment companies. The modern 2 1 0-foot-long yacht is the first of two Harrah's riverboats at Joliet. Harrah's Southern Star is to be launched in the fall. Wire service reports By Wayne R. Melton GAZETTE-JOURNAL Washoe Health Systems, parent company of Washoe Medical Center, has sold Sierra Nevada Laboratories for a minimum $14 million to Allied Clinical Laboratories.

With headquarters in Nashville, Allied is a national firm with 1 1 regional laboratories and 200 satellite facilities. Sierra Nevada Laboratories (SNL) has several hundred personnel. None of its employees will how to get growing Questions and answers on what is impairing the economy and what economists say must happen for stronger growth: OWhy did the economy grow so quickly late last year, only to lose the stamina early this year? A Growth surged partly on a burst of spending and borrowing by consumers, particularly after President Clinton's victory in November. Predictions that he would work quickly to reverse disillusionment with Republican handling of the economy created widespread optimism, even among some skeptics. Since more spending creates more demand for goods and services, the economy benefited.

But the optimism couldn't last without something else. Businesses were still laying off workers to cut costs. Income was barely matching inflation. Markets for American exports, particularly Europe and Japan, were weakening. "In hindsight, people spent a little more than they should have on the feeling that things would be better in 1 993," said Larry Valencia, portfolio manager for Pena Investment Advisors, a Denver-based money management firm.

"People then realized there wasn't any real change." What's holding the economy back now? A Many consumers have returned to the frugal spending behavior that characterized much of 1 992 and 1991. "Consumers are more interested in bargains, more interested in getting value out of the dollar," said Murray Shor, editor and publisher of Shopping Center Digest, a trade journal in Spring Valley, N.Y. In addition, many businesses have delayed expansion plans, partly because of uncertainty about higher taxes and more intense regulation under the Clinton administration in areas ranging from environmental cleanup to health insurance. Some businesses have warned of more layoffs ahead because of i 1 if I I II recession 1990-91 recession adjusted index, 1982100 1993 1Q 152.0 i i i i of 1987 dollars iiiiuiil 1993 1Q $5.01 '19BS 19861987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 "93 APWm. J.

Castello Some economists say this has kept the economy from actually worsening by enabling debt-burdened businesses and consumers to refinance existing loans at cheaper rates. But few are using the opportunity to borrow large sums for new loans another sign of tenuous confidence about the future. What would help? A Many economists now say a pickup in the weak economies of American's foreign trading partners is one prerequisite. That would stimulate demand for U.S.-built machinery and raw materials. Others say a sustained pickup won't happen until government, businesses and individual consumers work off more of the enormous levels of debt piled up during the Reagan-Bush era.

Associated Press needed lighting, Barrett said. Officers heard about the Barretts' solar command post and called them for assistance. Siemans, the company that makes the solar panels the Barretts use, has endorsed the system, Barrett said. The Barretts moved their company to Reno both to open more markets and to remove themsel ves from one of the dangers their equipment is built to handle. "We lived on a fault line," Barrett said.

Siemans, he said, felt it was the Growth: Leading indicators show worst drop in more than two years. WASHINGTON (AP) The government's chief economic forecasting gauge recorded its worst drop during March in more than two years, signaling lethargic growth this year. "There's no real an economist said. The Index of Leading Indicators fell 1 percent, the sharpest decline since November 1990, in the middle of the recession, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. At the White House, President Clinton used the report to prod Congress to enact his proposed budget-deficit cuts, which he said would stimulate the economy by keeping interest rates low.

"The best thing we can do for the economy this year clearly is to pass a multi-year deficit-reduction plan because of what it will do to interest rates," he told reporters in the Oval Office. He said at the moment he did not plan any new initiatives but, "I wouldn't rule anything out down the road." His press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, blamed the economy's sluggishness on Clinton's Republican predecessors' "failure to invest" and warned it "cannot be fixed overnight." The index is designed to predict economic activity six to nine months in advance. Three consecutive declines are a good, although far from foolproof, sign of a recession ahead. Economists said the index's movements so far this year signaled sluggish growth rather than a renewed recession. The index rose 0.5 percent in February, edged down 0.

1 percent in January wrong place to manufacture emergency equipment. If a damaging earthquake hit the areas, the Barretts might not be able to move their equipment out. The systems are compact enough for one person to set up and operate, Barrett said. They're approved by Underwriters Laboratories and can be custom made. Right now, the Barretts are marketing the systems at police and fire equipment trade shows, but they hope in the future to hire a marketing staff.

The equipment will be available Gross domestic product $5 r-i Trillions 19781979 19801981 1982 '1983 1984 Source: U.S. Commerce Dept. unsatisfactory corporate profits. Others are becoming increasingly restive about their fear of government meddling. The National Association of Purchasing Management, for example, which reports a widely followed survey of manufacturing strength, attributed some of its sharp April decline to a negative view of Clinton's economic agenda by the managers who do the buying for American factories.

"I almost get the feeling that purchasers, if they had their druthers, would say, 'Why don't you just leave us said Robert Bretz, head of the group's business survey committee. Why haven't lower interest rates helped yet? A Lower interest rates have helped to some degree. Interest the cost of borrowed money has become increasingly affordable over the past few years. The Barretts hit on the idea for solar-powered command posts when they began volunteering their services during emergencies in California. Their breakthrough came in the 1 989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

"In some emergency areas, fuel-powered generators were leaving fumes," Barrett said. "The fire companies had run out of fuel and had to shut down emergency procedures. Here we were with our solar generator no heat or fumes." During last year's Los Angeles riots, an area under FBI protection .5 1 rr 5.0 4.5 -I1978 1Q -4 $3.59 I 4.0 -c1 I i Ij 3.5 If! 3.0 III 2.5 111 9 11 I 11 ill 9 and jumped 1.7 percent in December, the biggest increase in 10 years. "I don't think we're headed into some dark night. It's just that there's no real oomph," said economist Paul W.

Boltz of-T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore. He attributed the latest drop partly to a blizzard that hit the Northeast in the mid-March, but said it also reflected fundamental problems. These include employers' reluctance to expand their payrolls and weak export sales to troubled economies in Europe and Japan. Economist Mark M.

Zandi of Regional Financial Associates in West Chester, said U.S. growth is unlikely to return to the fourth quarter rate 4.7 percent as measured by the gross domestic product anytime soon. GDP grew an anemic 1.8 percent in the first quarter. However, Zandi said he expected a gradual pickup, to around a 3 percent rate, by late in the year, after employers get a better idea of how Clinton's proposed tax increases and health care reforms will affect them. "Each day you pick up the newspaper there's another trial balloon and that uncertainty is making employers cautious.

They want to hold off on hiring until they find out a little more," he said. In March, nine of the index's forward-looking indicators declined. Among them were: A decline in building permits. A rise in new claims for unemployment benefits, from a weekly average of 343,000 in February to 376,000 in March. A fall in the average workweek at factories, from 41.5 hours in February to 4 1 .2 in March.

A dip in consumer confidence as measured by a University of Michigan survey. A drop in new orders to factories for consumer goods. for emergency use to local agencies free of charge as a way for them to determine its value and to see how it works, he said. "When they set up a command post, they can charge radios or run 100-foot flourescent lighting with no fumes or noise," he said. "You can even run a computer.

You have a total command center within three minutes of setup and you can move it by hand." The company also is exploring applications in other businesses including ranching, construction and automotive. people: our ownermembers. We take the time to get to know you and understand your needs. And we deliver precisely what you're Reno, NV 89502 826-6352 Solar power firm finds Truckee Meadows greener Reno Phar-Mor's closing gets OK YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the closings of 56 more Phar-Mor Inc. stores, including South Virginia Street in Reno.

The deep-discount drugstore chain said last month it would close the stores and lay off more than 4,000 workers. Originally 58 outlets were to be closed, but stores in Kansas and Pennsylvania made arrangements to remain open. The company, recovering from a fraud and embezzlement scandal, shuttered 86 stores and idled more than 4,000 employees in two previous rounds of closings. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Bodoh gave his approval for the latest closings, allowing the stores to hold going-out-of-business sales.

Phar-Mor sought bankruptcy court protection from creditors last August after firing three top executives and announcing it had evidence of a fraud and embezzlement scheme. Ted Expresses His Dismay Upon Learning That His "Local Bank" Isn't Really "Local." Barrett Manufacturers: California company produces portable generators for public safety command post use. By Susan Skorupa GAZETTE-JOURNAL A California company that's developing portable solar power generators for emergency and business use, specializing in command posts for police and fire departments, has moved to Reno. Art Barrett and his wife Clarice, who moved their Barrett Manufacturers from Palm Springs, have sold about eight of the free-standing units that can store energy during the day for nighttime emergency and other uses. 3PACgTEL CELLULAR A Pacific Telesis Company Across from the Convention Center You can have access to PacTel Cellular Service for as low as $19 a month.

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