The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 27

i I 0 I A BUSINESS MliSOLllN Slctios 10. 1996 0sr? number: Financial News Headlines 2012 Market Dow A erage .2014 M.ARKET Indices .2016 Market Most Active .2026 Sports D4 Quick Call, a free ser ice Or THE MlSSOtfJAN, OFFERS EXPANDED BUSINESS NEWS. CALL BUSINESS BRIEFING 1 i mm ii 1 Associated Press Sen. Edward Kennedy, leads a Capitol Hill rally calling for a raise in the minimum wage. The Senate approved a 90-cent Increase Tuesday, a move Kennedy said recognizes "The invisible Americans who have been left out and left behind Rejecting Republican conditions, lawmakers approve a 90ent boost WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate approved a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage Tuesday, raising the prospect of bigger paychecks for more than 10 million Americans.

Lawmakers rejected a Republican proposal to narrow the number eligible, culminating months of acrimonious debate. The 74-24 vote to raise the minimum from the current $4.25 an hour to $4.75 initially and to $5.15 by next July was a victory for Democrats who have sought to make it a central election-year issue. "The invisible Americans who have been left out and left behind were recognized today by the U.S. Senate," said Edward Kennedy, a leading proponent. The bill was part of a package of tax breaks aimed mainly at business that passed the House by 281-144 in a similar version on May 23.

The two chambers still must work out differences in the tax section of the legislation. Sen. Majority Whip Don Nickles, said he might try to block the House-Senate negotiating conference until Democrats give ground on stalled health care legislation. But Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Republicans would obstruct final passage "at their own peril." Americans overw helmingly support the increase and Nickles "would be held responsible should he decide to pursue that course," Daschle said. President Clinton urged Congress to send him the bill quickly for his signature.

"There is no reason that minimum wage workers should have to wait any longer for their raise. This is not a time to nickel and dime our working families." Vice President Al Gore made a rare appearance in his capacity as president of the Senate to oversee the final vote and stress its importance. "If you are looking for a straw in the wind" to see how political fortunes are blowing this year, "look no further than this vote," he said. The Clinton administration has campaigned vigorously for the wage increase and has chided Bob Dole, President Clinton's likely opponent in November, for not speaking out in behalf of it. The minimum wage issue bedeviled Dole's final days as Senate majority leader, with Kennedy and other Democrats blocking movement of other bills because of GOP reluctance to take up the minimum wage.

Dole's campaign, in a statement, said he had made clear his support of a raise in the wage and said Clinton had ignored the issue in his first two years and was now "playing maximum politics with minimum wage." Clinton, while saying the increase was crucial in helping millions of working Americans escape poverty, businesses would fire workers after six months to avoid paying the minimum wage. The Senate also rejected by 52-46 an amendment by Kennedy that would have reduced had promised to veto the bill if it contained an amendment, proposed by Sen. Christopher Bond. to exempt newly hired employees and workers in businesses grossing less than Brewers enjoy sales increase Big Sky Brewing Co. announced that its second-quarter sales increased 20 percent over the first quarter.

The company had sales averaging about 240 barrels per month. The growth came entirely from increased sales in the company's current markets. To meet the increased demand. Big Sky Brewing recently installed additional fermentation capacity that allows it to brew up to 400 barrels per month. Semitool downsizes forecast Semitool Inc.

says its Financial results for the third quarter will be below earlier expectations, due to lower shipments and costs associated with the production of the first of several new tool variations. The company expects to report third quarter results after the market closes on July 22. Semitool says that continued strong bookings for its tool product lines, used in making semiconductors, caused a record order backlog to increase by $20 million since the end of the end of March. Brewery sets annua! meeting Lang Creek Brewery of Marion has scheduled its annual meeting of stockholders for 1 p.m. July 21.

Last month, the company launched the construction of a addition to its brewery to house production equipment, storage, tanks and bottling gear. Insurance companies merge Insurance formed in 1885 in Helena, has merged with Western States Insurance. Insurance Inc. has about 2,500 individual, family and business customers. As a Western States company, it will continue to be locally owned and operated.

Western States is an independent agency that focuses on financial management, workers compensation, surety and risk management through a network of offices throughout Montana. KPAX plans morning newscast KPAX-TV in Missoula is laying the groundwork for a 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday local newscast that's scheduled to kick off in August. Bill Sullivan, KPAX's general manager, said the station believes there's a market for an early local newscast. He said the KPAX morning newscast will offer updates on the top stories from the night before and also will emphasize weather, road conditions and school information.

KPAX's move comes as CBS overhauls its morning programming, in particular "CBS This Morning." CBS will offer a national early-morning news broadcast that KPAX will show at 6 a.m. From 7 to 8 a.m., Sullivan said, KPAX plans to insert about 26 minutes of local news, weather and sports in the first hour of "This Morning." The national programming from 8 to 9 a.m. will be more of a traditional morning program, with celebrity interviews and other features. Amanda Watkins has been hired to produce both KPAX's morning and noon newscasts. Missoul'mn the training wage time for teen-agers to 30 days and removed House language capping the hourly wage that must be paid to those receiving tips.

Supporters of the bill argued that the minimum wage has not been raised since 1991 and is nearing a 40-year low in purchasing power. They said the $8,800 an individual can earn on the minimum wage is slightly more than half the poverty level income for a family of four. But Republicans said the raise could force small businesses to make large-scale layoffs of low-income workers, adding to the welfare rolls. $500,000 a year. Bond's measure would have allowed employers to wait six months before meeting the minimum wage.

It would also have delayed until Jan. 1 the date for raising the wage to $4.75 and until Jan. 1, 1998 for instituting the full $5.15, both six months beyond the House-set dates. The House bill allows for a 90-day period when teen-agers can be given a "subminimum" or "training" wage of $4.25. Bond would double that period and make it apply to all new workers.

esident Clinton urged Congress to send him the bill quickly for his signature. "Tfiere is no reason that minimum wage workers should have to wait any longer for their raise. Tliis is not a time to nickel and dime our working families. "There's something worse than low wages and that's no wages," said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. R-Miss.

Bond accused Democrats of being manipulated by organized labor and said the defeat of his amendment "shows me they don't care about small business in America." His amendment was defeated 52-46, with five Republicans joining all 47 Democrats in opposing it. Sen. James Jeffords, who joined GOP Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Alfonse D'amato of New York and Mark Hatfield of Oregon in voting against it, voiced concern that Lolo company offers fast track to 'true' home By DONNA SYVERTSON of the Missoulian Lynn Blodgett, the firm's rnain saleswoman, built a home and, with the money she saved in not buying a conventionally built home, added a metal barn and a garage. New homeowners can select and adapt their design from 55 different models displayed in a Stratford book.

The buildings range from 861 square feet to 2.413. The Idaho factory designs sections of standardized size that can be arranged or fitted together in a variety of ways. That modular design has been a public-relations hurdle for the firm. "People in Montana think that if it isn't stick-built on-site, it's automatically a mobile home or manufactured home," Zarling said. "We're a 'true' modular home." home are shipped to the site and then are connected to form the new house.

Local companies then finish the job, adding siding, drywalling, shingling and hooking up electricity, said Rory Zarling, one of Diamond D's three partners. The manufactured portion of a Stratford home carries a one-year material and workmanship defect warranty. The time-saver is that "you don't have to wait for the concrete to set before you pound boards," he said. The savings comes in the large volume of building supplies Stratford buys. The savings on low prices are passed on to the buyers.

The company, which started in June 1995, has built homes in Victor, Florence and Seeley Lake and is working on two in the Missoula area. In addition, the company is building one each in Victor and Big Arm. Call them the fast food of the home-building industry. They're quick, almost ready to go. They're custom-built with name-brand materials.

And they're less expensive than homes built completely on-site. Stratford Homes, offered by Diamond Builders in Lolo, can be ordered and finished within an average of 100 days with a $50 to $70 per square foot charge, according to the company. The main frames are built within 80-90 percent of completion in Rathdrum, Idaho, while the concrete foundation is prepared on-site. The sections for the Men from MRS Win Over Missoula! tart small Cool 'Wo and build. FREE Set-Up Kit Including: mikmii nj.ii.il ii.

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