The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 6

fje 3urlmgton Jfrcc press; T' Tr 058.41 Nasdaq: 1,967.35 Stock listings Page 8A DOW 9,837.94 Friday, November 14, 2003 Business Editor Aki Soga 660-1866 or (800) 427-3124 asoga bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com www.burlingtonfreepress.com Page 6A msR Military places order for 80,000 helmets I 1 fv-jf I 1 1 three shifts. There was no immediate word on whether the new contract would create more jobs. The helmets are made of layers of Kevlar. They have been credited with saving the lives of several soldiers. "These helmets are priceless for the families and friends of soldiers," Leahy said.

"Vermonters are proud to produce them and we also appreciate what this work means to our families in Newport and other communities." Last summer a sergeant from the 82nd Airborne Division whose life was saved by a Newport-made helmet visited the factory. The Associated Press NEWPORT A company that makes state-of-the-art helmets for the military is going to be making 80,000 more, Sen. Patrick Leahy said Thursday. The MSA Gallet plant has won a $28 million contract from the army for the headgear, known as the Advanced Combat Helmet. The helmets have been used by Special Operations troops and elite airborne units spread out around the world.

The latest contract will push to more than 100,000 the number of helmets the company will have produced. The company employs about 50 people working SEC, Putnam reach partial settlement BOSTON The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a partial settlement Thursday with Putnam Investments, under which the company will undertake significant reforms and agreed to a process for repaying investors harmed by excessive market timing. Boston-based Putnam, which had no immediate comment, neither admitted nor denied the findings, the SEC said. The company had previously promised to make full restitution to investors harmed by improper market timing by Putnam employees or customers. The SEC said the amount of any civil penalty or monetary relief remains open and will be determined later.

It described the administrative proceeding as "ongoing." Market timing is the use of quick, in-and-out trades that skim profits from longer-term shareholders. The practice is not illegal but most funds do not allow it. The Associated Press Jobless claims increase Vermont regular unemployment claims totaled 6,242 for the week ended Saturday. That compares to 5,797 claims a week earlier, and 6,822 claims a year ago. The state unemployment rate stood at 4.3 percent in September, compared to 3.9 percent in August, and 3.7 percent a year earlier.

GLENN RUSSELL, Free Press Sue Gillis, publisher of Vermont Woman. This is the second life of the free monthly magazine; Gillis hopes it will fill the need of a publication for women from the female perspective. 'A journal about perspective' Vermont Woman fills gap in female angle Congress to block Treasury on cash-balance plans New publication PUBLICATION: Vermont Woman PUBLISHER: Sue Gillis HEADQUARTERS: South Burlington PUBLICATION LAUNCH: Oct. 9 FREQUENCY: Monthly CONTENT: A range of issues with a woman's perspective from health to environment to local and national news. DISTRIBUTION: Available in grocery stores, book shops and libraries.

T-shirts with a Vermont Woman logo, subscriptions and events, like Sunday's talk by journalist Helen Thomas. Initially the launch was planned in the spring, but with the war in Iraq and the economy, she decided to wait until fall. The monthly has a circulation of 20,000 and is distributed alongside other free publications in grocery stores, book shops and libraries. Vermont Woman is a tabloid-size publication printed on newsprint. Both the market and the content are intended to be wide-ranging.

Gillis said the magazine is designed to appeal to women ages 20 to 100. Issues covered run the gamut from the environment to health to state government to national and international news, of interest to or viewed from the perspective of women. "It's not a political journal but it is a journal about perspective," said editor Deb Alden. "And if you're going to have a perspective you ought to aim for action." Although magazines come and go, including the first if By Brian Tumulty Gannett News Service WASHINGTON House and Senate negotiators have agreed to block the Treasury Department from finalizing regulations that would have formally le-galized pension plan changes that major corporations like IBM have adopted. In a compromise with the Bush administration, Treasury would propose a legislative alternative to proposed regulations on so-called cash balance pension plans within six months.

This would give Congress oversight on what becomes law and allow the administration to salvage its 11 months of rulemaking. President James Klein of the American Benefits Council said Thursday he thinks the deal has the administration's tacit blessing. "This gives them cover to say, 'This legislation has been called for by Klein said. "They wanted to do this anyhow." Klein's organization and version of Vermont Woman, there is room in the marketplace for niche publications, said Jack Tenney, publisher of Business People Vermont, a monthly. He is getting ready to celebrate 20 years of publication and over those two decades has ridden out lis share of lean times.

"When things go down and get tight you do lose a few competitors perhaps. Then when things get going smoking hot you gain a few competitors," Tenney said. He takes it as a good sign that another publication is jumping into the marketplace. Gillis is banking on the economy's finally turning around. Delaying the start of the magazine until the last quarter of the year made getting advertising challenging, because many advertising budgets were already spent.

Other aspects of reintroducing a women's magazine should make life easier the second time around, Gillis said. For example, when the magazine was started in the late '80s, using the word breast and writing about breast cancer resulted in a loss of 25 percent of the magazine's advertisers. That's not true today Gillis said. Then there are the lips. Gillis purposely chose an in-your-face logo for the magazine that features a lipstick kiss for the letter in the word Vermont.

Lips never would have made it into a logo 18 years ago. "We don't have to take ourselves so seriously as we did in 1985 and '90, when we were defining ourselves," Gillis said. Contact Leslie Wright at 660-1841 or lwrightbfp.burlingtonfreepres- By Leslie Wright Free Press Staff Writer The last time Sue Gillis was involved with a publication in Vermont, the country was at war in the Middle East and the economy was shaky. This time around the country is involved in conflict in the Middle East and the economy is on wobbly legs. Her latest venture, Vermont Woman, was launched in October with more than a little sense of deja vu.

Vermont Woman has been here before. Gillis started the monthly 18 years ago under the same name. The first version had a ilve-year run. After struggling to make money, Gillis decided to change course and combined forces with the publisher of the Vermont Vanguard Press, another alternative paper that was struggling, to start the weekly Vermont Times in 1990. Two years later, faced with a recession aggravated by the Gulf War, she sold her shares of the weekly.

Gillis came back to her women's magazine after exploring the idea through focus groups in her South Hero home last year. "We went from, 'I don't know if we should do this' to 'We have to do Gillis said. The state lacked a publication that specialized in presenting issues from a woman's point of view, she said. Gillis gathered a group of investors, all Vermonters. She would not say how much the initial investment was, but said the paper is not expected to make money for two years.

In addition to advertising and subscriptions, about 15 percent of revenues will come from retail sales such as Development group hopes carts will boost holiday sales Rosie O'Donnell said she will try to recover $8 million in legal fees from her battle with the'pub-lisher of her now-defunct magazine, now that a judge indicated neither side will win any money. But.an attorney for publisher Gruner Jahr USA cautioned Thursday that the fight wasn't over. "The judge hasn't made any final ruling," Martin Hyman said on the "Today" show. Each side blamed the other for the 2002 demise of Rosie magazine, and each sought nine-figure damage awards in their civil lawsuits a tussle that state Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman called "ill-conceived." The two founders of the mutual fund company Pilgrim Baxter Associates have resigned because of an inappropriate market timing arrangement, the company said Thursday, and New York's attorney general said he would pursue charges against the company. In a letter to shareholders, the company said founder Gary L.

Pilgrim, with the knowledge of co-founder and chief executive Harold J. Baxter, had privately invested in a limited partnership that made money in 2000 and 2001 by quickly purchasing and redeeming shares of PBHG Funds, which are managed by Pilgrim Baxter. That type of trading known as market timing has been under increased scrutiny nationwide. Microsoft Corp. wrapped up its defense Thursday against charges that it abused its market power in Europe and urged regulators not to order changes in its flagship Windows operating system.

But the software giant said it remained open to finding ways to avert sanctions and billions of dollars in fines. The U.S. trade deficit widened to $41.3 billion in September as imports climbed to an all-time monthly high, a fresh sign of Americans' hearty appetite for foreign-made goods. Exports, however, also posted a solid gain. Wal-Mart Stores the world's largest retailer, posted a 13 percent increase in third-quarter earnings but narrowly missed Wall Street expectations and indicated earnings for this quarter could also be below estimates.

the ERISA Industry Committee, another group representing large employers with pension plans, described the agreement as a major setback for employers who have converted to cash balance pension plans. Traditional plans skew their benefits to long-tenured employees nearing retirement age. Hybrid plans like cash balance plans smooth out the process so younger, shorter-tenured employees gain more future benefits than they would under a traditional plan. "It's going to have a devastating effect on any company with a hybrid plan because of the uncertainty as to the tax qualification and the company's liability under the plan," said Mark Ugorefz, president of the ERISA Industry Committee. According to the compromise language, the 2004 legislation would "provide transition relief for older and longer-service participants affected by conversions of their employers' traditional pension plans to cash balance pension plans." quantity shopping no matter where you're parked in the square," said John Edwards, chairman of the BFDDA design committee.

"The shopping cart is a great idea. It's a way for people to hit all the stores and make multiple purchases." The shopping carts will promote Bellows Falls merchants even when used in other areas. "We slapped our new logo, which we spent a lot of time developing, on them and a snappy catchphrase, 'Doing Cartwheels for Downtown Edwards said. "They're already going pretty quick." Decorative Outdoor James M. Swincll, Randolph, Sept.

23. Hospitality Builders Steven L. Warren, Aberdeen, S.D., Sept. 23. TVC Holding Greg A.

Rosenbaum, Annville, Sept. 23. Special Risk Resources Insurance Agency Dan R. Osterhout, Chicago, 111., Sept. 23.

Kforce David L. Dun-kul, Tampa, Fla Sept. 23. Hudson News James Cohen, East Rutherford, N.J.,Sept.23. High Meadows Fund Carl Ferenbach, Sept.

19. The Associated Press BELLOWS FALL'S Downtown business promoters are trying a new strategy to draw shoppers to the town center for the holiday season: selling shopping carts. The Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance will offer shoppers collapsible, four-wheeled shopping carts in hopes residents will bring their business downtown. The cart can carry up to 150 pounds, then fold up for storage in the trunk of a car. "We wanted to find a way to make it easier to do large- VERMONT BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS PEOPLE CALENDAR INCORPORATIONS II llll Duane Letourneau has joined Small Dog Electronics' technical and service department.

Letourneau has more than 1 1 years of experience in the computer industry, specializing in Macintosh computers since 1999. A Vermont native, Letourneau attended Lyndon State College, where he studied communications. He resides in St. Albans. Small Dog Electronics is an e-commerce company based In Waitsfield that sells new and refurbished Apple computers, software and peripherals.

TODAY Sunrise Rotary Club: a.m., Ethan Allen Club, 298 College Burlington speaker: Sandy Levine of the Conservation Law Foundation. $8 for breakfast. Call Dave Carleton at 863-6670 for more information. Nonprofit Legislative Forum, 2-4 p.m., Bennington Center for Natural and Cultural Arts, Bennington. For Bennington County.

Panelists: Evie Herrmann, First Day Foundation; Eric Peterson, Oldcastle Theatre Company; Jamie Le-hane, United Counseling Services; Linda Dean Far- rar. Sunrise Family Resource Center. Hosted by VANPO. Registration: 862-0292. Women Business Owners Network Conference, 4:30 p.m.

Friday-4 p.m. Saturday, Cortina Inn, Killing-ton. Theme: Ages Stages of Change. Business expo for members and sponsors. Keynote speakers include Lisa Lindahl, inventor of the JogbraR and cofounder ofLightning2 and Adrienne Henzel, partner at Miguel's Stowe Away.

Members, $125; non-members, $160; new members, or www.wbon.orgfall.htm. Hughes Enterprises Sept. 22. O'Reilly O'Reilly Business Services Sept. 22.

Palladium Builders Sept. 23. Advanced Basement Technologies Sept. 23. Gunther-Nash St.

Louis, Sept. 22. Symbolease lease bar-coding scanning, Richard Bravman, Holtsville, N.Y., Sept. 22. Cigi Direct Insurance Services John R.

High-tower, Salida, Sept. 22. Diverse Computing Anthony F. Pun, West Windsor, N.J., Sept. 22.

Spam has never been limited to e-mail; but now, commercial pitches are increasingly popping up in online chats, instant messages, cell phones with text messaging and Web log comments. Spammers are flocking to new communications tools like moths to light, threatening to cripple these tools just as they are beginning to take off. From staff, wire reports.