The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page E1

CYANMAGYELBLK TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1E BUSINESS MONDAY, JULY 12, 2004 Assistant Managing Editor Business: Deborah W. Fisher, 664-2156; Assistant Business Editor: Randy McClain, 259-8882; To report business news: Phone: 259-8096 Fax: 259-8093 www.tennessean.com INVESTIGA TIONS DEVELOPMENT COMP ANY TO A TCH: WNPT Above is a depiction of Harbor East, part of a multi-billion-dollar development in Baltimore by Struever Eccles Rouse. The company has teamed with the Nashville Sounds on a proposed new baseball stadium. By JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK StaffWriter Nashville Public Television has cut its last ties to Nashville public money. June 30 marked the end of WNPT-Channel five-year financial transition out from under the Metro umbrella where it had resided for more than three decades.

The actual license transfer from Metro Public Schools to Nashville Public Television Inc. came in July 1999. But shutting off the financial tap has NPT facing a $1.1 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year that may put the station in the red for a while before it can be replaced. are on the high dive looking said Steve Bass, president and chief executive officer. But not overly worried about a belly-flop.

Bass expects the $1.1 million deficit, out of a $6 million annual budget, to be only a temporary setback for the station, even though state funds also are being cut. To Bass, a respected public television executive who came to Nashville from the Boston area in November 1998, divestment from government means freedom from the bureaucracy that once inhibited station progress in everything from technology to programming choices. He hopes to leverage its creativity, both artistically and business-wise, to generate revenue instead of relying on subsidies. From its beginnings as a classroom tool for schoolchildren, Red ink only temporary, says public TV CEO WNPT-Channel 8 expects to flourish despite the end offunding from Metro. By RICHARD LAWSON StaffWriter Baltimore developer Bill Struever, his brother Fred and their business partners think big when they chase a small development opportunity in a new town.

not interested in standalone buildings for said Bill Struever, whose firm Struever Eccles Rouse is teamed with the Nashville Sounds on a proposed new baseball stadium and adjoining mixed-use development on the former Thermal site downtown. minimum criteria to invest in a new neighborhood is $100 million that we can fully deploy in five the chief executive offi- cer said. That means the firm is looking beyond its partnership with the Sounds, which calls for roughly a $40 million development with 225 residential units and 80,000 square feet of retail on the portion of the 11.5- acre riverfront site not used for a ballpark. hoping that the mixed-use project for the Sounds would be just a part of a larger community Struever said, adding that he and his development team eyed nearby Rolling Mill Hill and across the river. For the most part, the contribution has been overshadowed by intense focus on the desire for $38.5 million in Metro-issued bonds and a call for financial guarantees to ensure minimal risk to taxpayers.

The Sounds had talked only about the stadium during a presentation to the 19-member Metro task force reviewing Thermal proposals last month. Little has been said about the proposed adjoining mixed-use development, and that lack of information has disappointed some task force members. The stadium was one of five proposals that the task force considered in a meeting last Thursday, and it received the top marks from the more than a dozen task force members who scored the proposals based on criteria that included cost, tax impact, frequency of use, job creation and other factors. Task force members said a stadium would offer affordable entertainment that draws local residents downtown and provide a catalyst for future development, according to Firm looking beyond Sounds partnership Mixed-use plan for Thermal site could lead to larger community development, CEO says. By KRISTEN HAYS Associated Press HOUSTON When federal investigators began looking at what went wrong with Enron, they started with the obvious quick riches from sales of inflated stock, questionable deals by the finance chief, the abrupt departure from a sinking ship, mass shredding of documents by the outside auditor.

The government methodically, some say ploddingly, worked from the outside in. It would take two and a half years, with many twists and turns, to hook the biggest Enron fish of all company founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay. He would be the 30th person charged and, by then, 10 would have pleaded guilty. Lay, who led the energy heady rise and resigned under pressure after its scandalous fall, pleaded innocent Thursday to 11 counts of fraud, conspiracy and false statements to banks. While perhaps the most highly anticipated indictment to emerge, it necessarily the last.

investigation is most definitely said Andrew Weissmann, head of the Justice Enron Task Force. The investigation produced a steady stream of contested charges and guilty pleas from April 2002 on, as well as pending cases alleging a sham deal to sell barges, faked earnings and exaggerated prospects for broadband and rigged energy trades. But getting to the very top took time and was far from automatic, despite public outrage over the riches that bosses pocketed while their company sank. pressure on prosecutors to deliver indictments in real time has grown said Kirby Behre, a former federal prosecutor. they rely on the cooperation and testimony of high-level subordinates, a lot out of your Enron crashed in December 2001, putting more than 5,000 employees out of work, just six weeks after a company that almost never had bad news revealed massive losses and writedowns.

Murky explanations of poor investments and odd partnerships run by a Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, failed to reassure bolting investors and suspicious regulators. The Justice Department confirmed in Indicting Lay payoff for patient prosecutors Reports raise questions about strength ofeconomic recovery By EDUARDO PORTER New York Times News Service Retail sales slowed in June. Auto purchases declined. Several technology companies warned about weak software and hardware spending at the end of the second quarter. Less than three years since the United States emerged from a recession, a patchwork of unexpectedly soft economic reports is raising doubts about the vigor of the recovery.

every client meeting I said Ethan S. Harris, chief U.S. economist at Lehman Brothers, asked whether a slowdown has hit the U.S. Stock prices have faltered since the end of June, as corporate earnings have disappointed investors. Bond prices have risen, as evidence of economic fragility has allayed fears that inflation will accelerate.

Recent sluggish economic indicators have inspired caution in forecasts that until now had been unabashedly bullish. data over the next several weeks are likely to follow the theme of slower growth with continued inflationary wrote Andrew Tilton, a Goldman Sachs economist, in a note to clients. addition to a weaker trend of consumer spending, we expect some modest deceleration in factory sector Most economists are confident that economic growth is not collapsing but is shifting to a lower, more sustainable rate. economy has come off its peak in the last couple of said Martin A. Regalia, chief economist at the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce. have dropped their forecasts to about 3.5%. still a pretty solid As the nation has rebounded from the 2001 recession, the main theme has been ability to keep borrowing and spending. Near record-low interest rates let homeowners refinance mortgages, taking money out of their homes to pay for renovations and consumer durables. Dirt-low interest rates allowed auto companies and others to offer zero- interest-rate loans to stimulate sales.

Eventually, this dynamic was expected to end, as the recovery took hold and interest rates started rising. Most economists expected two new sources of growth to kick in. First, a rising number of jobs would increase the overall wage pie helping maintain consumer spending. Second, businesses would again start investing in new equipment. But rising oil prices have complicated this switch.

Spurring a jump in inflation and taking a big bite out of wallets, rising energy prices have raised the question of whether, combined with higher interest rates, they could depress consumer spending before new sources of growth could gather sufficient steam. Regions Bank promotes Penland Jim Penland is executive vice president and community business banking executive with Regions Middle Tennessee banking group. He oversees business banking in a southern Middle Tennessee region that includes Tullahoma, Fayetteville, Winchester and McMinnville. Penland formerly was area president of Cumberland group of banks, which included locations between here and Knoxville. His job change is related to recent purchase of Union Planters Bank.

Penland began his banking career in 1972 with Gainesville National Bank in Georgia. He remains based in Winchester in his new role with Regions. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and has an MBA degree from Brenau University in Gainesville, Ga. GETAHN WARD The Morning Memo MOVERS SHAKERS Web sites often restricted according to locations Type into Google from New York, and get ads for dentists in the city. Try watching a Cubs baseball game from a computer in Chicago, and be stymied.

Preexisting local TV rights block the Webcast. The World Wide Web experience is becoming less worldwide: What you see and what you are allowed to do can depend greatly on where and even who you are. On 5E BUSINESS CALENDAR TECHNOLOGY RA TES Prime rate4.25% 3-month Treasury bills1.27% 6-month Treasury bills1.61% 30-year Treasury bonds5.21% Bank money market accounts0.45% New car loans7.42% Mortgages 30-year fixed6.08% 15-year fixed5.48% Online Business Calendar www.tennessean.com/business Today: In Washington, the Treasury bill auction. In Houston Lea Fastow, wife of the former Enron finance chief, reports to federal prison to serve a yearlong sentence. Tomorrow In Washington, the Commerce Department reports on international trade for May; Treasury reports on federal budget for June.

In Santa Clara, Intel Corp. releases second-quarter earnings. In New Brunswick, N.J., Johnson Johnson releases second- quarter earnings. In New York, Merrill Lynch Co. releases second-quarter earnings.

Wednesday In Washington, the Commerce Department reports on retail sales for June. In Cupertino, Apple Computer Inc. releases third-quarter earnings. In Charlotte, N.C., Bank of America Corp. releases second-quarter earnings.

Thursday In Washington, the Labor Department reports on producer price index for June and weekly jobless claims; the Commerce Department reports on business inventories for May; the Federal Reserve reports on industrial production for June; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reports on mortgage rates. In New York, bankruptcy judge is expected to rule on whether to confirm the reorganization plan. In New York, Citigroup Inc. releases second-quarter earnings. In Armonk, N.Y., IBM Corp.

releases second-quarter earnings. In Purchase, N.Y., PepsiCo Inc. releases second-quarter earnings. In Charlotte, N.C., Wachovia Corp. releases second-quarter earnings.

Friday In Washington, the Labor Department reports on consumer price index for June. In New York, rescheduled sentencing for Martha Stewart and former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic. The two are expected to be sentenced to 10 to 16 months apiece in federal prison for lying about a sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock. Midstate calendar: 4E National calendar: SAM SIMPKINS STAFF Steve Bass, president and CEO of WNPT, stands in the production room.

Please see WNPT, 2E Please see ENRON, 2E Please see DEVELOPMENT, 2E ECONOMY.