Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 41

CEST AVAILABLE COPY Editor: Jill Jorden Spitz Telephone 520-573-41 77 Fax 573-4144 Email businessazstarnet.com 51 Saturday January 26,2002 SECTION ARIZONA DAILY STAR SERVING TUCSON SINCE 1877 1 STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST NASDAQ INDEX MARKETS January 25, 2002 (quotes may reflect after-hours trading) Name Div Last Chg Name DOW INDUSTRIALS 10,300 10,150 Div Last Chg 2.050- Nous Notes NA 39.46 0.50 32.62 0.76 Intuit Phelps Dodge Pinnacle West 1 60 42.50 2,000 950 VV 1,900 DOW 30 AOLTimeWarnerNA 27.48 America West NA 3.88 0.08 Apollo Group NA 44.34 0.19 Convergys NA 30.96 Home Depot 0.20 47.00 Honeywell 0.75 32.70 1.10 IBM 0.56 109.28 0.56 Intel 0.08 33.68 0.48 0.80 35.27 1.03 0.08 27.45 0.00. 0.40 18.07 NA 22.28 0 91 1.04 47.10 Raytheon Texas Instr. UniSource Ventana Med. Wells Fargo BANKING I DM Federal Credit Union, Tucson's largest credit union with some 86,000 members and $601 million in assets, is expanding. It has purchased the former Ftfth-Thlrd Bank branch at 1100 N.

Wilmot Road for $1.25 million and plans to relocate its banking operation currently at 5401 E. Speedway into the landmark inverted-pyramid building by April, said Amle Aros, the credit union's senior vice 1 ,850 L- 9700 Jan. 1 1 Jan. 11 Jan. 25 Jan.

25 NASDAQ RUSSELL 2000 At the pump average gas prices TUCSON DATA Tucson resales hit all-time high $1.09 ft? REGULAR $1.29 ft i PREMIUM president DM also plans to move its corporate headquarters, currently at 8467 E. Broadway, into a larger two-story office building it acquired at 2480 N. Arcadia Ave. for $5.1 million. That move will occur sometime in the second quarter, Aros said.

Finally, the credit union is negotiating the UNtSwwyAwigM 11.106 Home sales break record S1.3 Ltwwt pricw hi tunny tw tha part wetfc UnRgguKr Premium HtfiHt raft rtrt Ahm MdariBmoiHIglMi Staff Tucson-area home resales Including single-family, townhouses, condominiums and mobile homes The record 5.25 million represented a 2.7 percent rise from the 5.11 million homes sold in 2000. "The housing sector continued to defy the recession," said Karen Dexter, an economist with Merrill Lynch. Locally, resale homes will account for about 16,000 sales in 2001, with roughly 70 percent of those sales coming through the Tucson Association of Re-SEE HOME SALES D7 By Macario Juarez Jr. ARIZONA DAILY STAR A record number of homes were sold in Tucson last year, including an all-time high for resales done through the local Multiple Listing Service. Some 22,000 new and existing homes sold last year, about 2,000 more than the previous year's total sales of 20,039, according to preliminary research by local housing analyst John Strobeck.

"We have another record volume, because we had heavier resales," Strobeck said. The Tucson sales figures track a similar trend nationally. The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that 5.25 million existing homes were sold in 2001. That surpassed the previous sales record of 5.21 million set in 1999 when the economy was booming. AVERAGE SALE PRICE 2000 "$155,3071 2001 $159,727 1 AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET 2000 2001 KI352 purchase of land in the Rita Ranch area on the far Southeast Side for a new branch, Aros said.

I The Tucson Technology Incubator's Entrepreneur's Forum on Tuesday will feature a panel discussion on market research for the startup company. The panel, which will answer questions from the audience, will feature Geoff Smith of BabloveRIdgewood Work Group; Frank Hamilton from Decision Support Jan Knight of Bancroft Information Services, Nancy Kewln from On Marketing Services LLC and Dave Tedlock of NetOut- comes.com LLC. The UNITS SOLD 2000 Em 11.677 2001 DOLLAR VOLUME 2000 2001 $1,858,380,806 1 NUMBER OF NEW LISTINGS 2000 2001 SOURCE: Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service Inc. Staff cuss the future of local architecture. www.azstarnet.comcllps tucsonlook.html event will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

at 9040 S.Rita Road, Suite 1100 in the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park. RSVP to Kim Winter at 663-3597 by Tele-workers get Ready to Earn ft jr Monday. A $5 donation is requested to cover refreshments and expenses. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT I Steve Weathers, president and CEO of the Greater Tucson Economic Council, will speak at the monthly Building Owners and Managers Association meeting Tuesday. He will discuss GTEC's strategic plan for Tucson.

The association luncheon will be at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel and Suites, 5151 E. Grant Road. Anyone interested in Tucson commercial real estate and the business climate is invited to attend. Call Kathy Nlles, BOMA of Greater Tucson, at 2994956 for reservations or information. The cost for the luncheon is $20 for non-members.

I Send notices for Tucson Industry News Notes to Business, the Arizona Daily Star, P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726; or by fax to 573-4144; or to businessazstarnet.com by e-mail I National BRIEFING (i Program helps put under-and unemployed in call-center jobs By Paola Banchero ARIZONA DAILY STAR Bven in a recession, the call-center industry is hiring. With that as a starting point, a new program called Ready to Earn is putting under- or unemployed people on the fast track to teleservicejobs. In six weeks' time, the 14 people enrolled in the program could be working at one of the 40 call centers that dot the Tucson landscape and do everything from dispatching roadside assistance to stranded motorists to taking airline reservations. Tucson is a call-center stronghold, employing about 16,000 workers metrowide, or 5 percent of working adults.

But the industry sutlers from a perception that it offers only dead-end jobs at low wages. The reality is more complex. Call centers offer benefits and higher wages than many service industry employers. But like their service industry peers, call centers have high employee turnover. They are constantly looking to fill job openings, even in a downturn and despite announced layoffs at a couple of call centers.

"Call centers have gotten a bad rap. But it is not deserved. There are many Tucsonans who work two or three jobs at minimum wage, with no benefits and no ca- A.E. Aralza Staff Goodwill Industries instructor Philip Wigtil, left, gives a hand to Vernon Neal and Irene Young. By the numbers I Tucson is a stronghold of call-center employment.

Here are the figures: 5 16,000 reer path to something better," said B. J. Smith, economic development specialist at the city of Tucson Office of Economic Development. "We're trying to change that, and the teleservice industry can be a help to people who have little recent experience in the work force." Smith wrote a grant, and received $69,000 from the Economic 'Development Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Office of Economic Development teamed up with Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona Inc. and the Tucson Ur ban League to create Ready to Earn. "The essence of Goodwill is to put people to work. The city of Tucson's Office of Economic Development does so much with training programs, and the Tucson Urban League knows about adult education and helps people when they have trouble paying their rent It's the right combination," said Suzanne Lawder, chief executive officer of the local Goodwill office. The six-week program combines basic computer and customer-service skills with inter- SEE TELE-JOBS D6 TOTAL IN TUCSON OF ADULT WORKERS Investors gave blue chips another comfortable boost Friday but nudged tech stocks slightly lower as they dealt with conflicting signals about the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 44.01 at 9,840.08. For the week, the Dow rose 68.23. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 4.88 to 1,937.70. For the week, the tech-dominated index rose 7.36. Retailer Kmart Corp.

said it has begun an internal investigation after receiving an anonymous letter claiming to be from employees that raised questions about its accounting. The nation's third-largest discount retailer, which filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, said it notified the Securities and Exchange Commission and is cooperating with the regulatory agency, which is conducting its own investigation. Kmart said the letter, which it received just over a week ago, was addressed to its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, its board of directors and the SEC. ImClone Systems stock tumbled to the lowest level in a year after the company disclosed that two federal agencies are investigating the biotechnology firm. The New York City company said in a regulatory filing Friday that the U.S.

Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are probing allegations that ImClone executives misled investors about troubles surrounding its highly anticipated cancer drug Erbitux. A congressional panel announced last week it would investigate insider trading at ImClone, as well as the company's handling of its failed application for Food and Drug Administration approval. -) Chrysler Group said it would pull a TV ad showing a minivan passing a snowplow after state highway officials complained it encourages reckless driving. The ad shows a snowplow clearing a mountain road as a Dodge Caravan closes in from behind. The minivan passes the plow as the words, "The view never changes unless you're the lead dog" flash on the screen.

Compiled from wire reports To find out more about Ready to Earn, call Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona at 623-5174. Information Technology Association of Southern Arizona Cap'n eegee sails into sunset used in a prepared statement announcing the impending departure of the Cap'n and his arch-rivals, the purple Hungries. "Personally, it's sad to see Cap'n and the Hungries go," Media icon passe but is likely to be hard act to follow American, British Air cancel deal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON American Airlines and British Airways on Friday walked away from a proposed alliance rather than give up takeoff and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport The decision marks the second time in five years that the airlines dropped their request to set rates and routes together and sell each other's tickets because federal regulators insisted that they give up the slots as part of the deal. The risefall McMahon lamented in his statement "We've had a lot of fun with these characters and they have helped sell a lot of food, but it's time to move in a new direction." So for Cap'n and the Hungries, it's the old heave-ho. Ed Irving, who founded eegee's 31 years ago with kindergarten chum Bob Greenberg, was on a motorcycle trip to California yesterday and could not be reached for comment SEE PASSE D6 By Jane Erikson ARKONA DAILY STAR To his fans, he's the green-suited superhero.

But in the cutthroat world of television and radio advertising, he's no longer au courant So after seven awaiti-wiiining years, media icon Captain eegee has been given his pmk slip. "That's Cap eegee," said Tom McMahon, president of McMahon Creative feigning concern for the soon-to-be-unemployed promoter of the eegee's restaurant chain. "Retire" is the word McMahon i of Enron The energy trader 1 grew big and xi fast. Dumped up its 4 stock prices and "We will not do this deal at this price," American Chairman Don Carty and British Airways Chief Executive Rod Eddington said in a joint statement The airlines said they would still try to work together within existing rules. Transportation Department SEE AIRLINES D6 wooed big shots.

How did it all go so wrong? Cap'n eegee and the Hungries are being "retired The restaurant chain 's ads will move in a different direction, its agency says..