Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 29

Id) It's a deal Finding an edge Not many businesses owned by women are taking advantage of the federal HUB program. D2 Today Focus; Small Business. IBM and Bell Atlantic form an alliance to wire new homes for networking. D2 Inside NYSE D5 Nasdaq D6 Mutual funds D7 Commodities D8 Mexican stocks D8 4i Wednesday, February 3, 1999 Dow Jones Industrial average, close 9.700 (01 G'gfe'J pfe mmimsi mm 76th Texas Legislature Gov. George W.

Bush's emergency designation for oil tax relief means sponsors of the proposal will need only a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to get consideration. Harry CablucKAP Bush wants to suspend severance taxes on production By Bruce Hight American-Statesman Staff The oil and gas industry, hit hard by a yearlong slide in the price paid for its crude, jumped to the head of the legislative relief line Tuesday as Gov. George W. Bush gave emergency status to a proposal to suspend severance Senate to get consideration rather than the four-fifths usually required through the 60th day of a legislative session, which is March 12 this year. Legislators said Tuesday they hope to have a bill on Bush's desk within two weeks with the Senate Finance Committee expected to consider the legislation today.

The legislation would suspend the 4.6 percent state severance tax on the value of oil production from wells that produce fewer than 15 See Bush, D4 1499 11199 11999 12699 2299 MARKET INDEXES Close Change Dow Jones industrial average 9,274.12 Nasdaq composite 2,463.42 500 1,261.99 Philadelphia Semiconductor 402.46 Mexico Bolsa 4,014.58 COMMODITIES, spot price, near month delivery Oil (light sweet crude, barrel) $12.30 Natural gas (1,000 cu. ft.) $1,818 .074 taxes on oil production until Aug. 31. "It's really tough for people in the oil patch of Texas," said Bush, a former oil man himself. "It is important for us to provide relief to the extent possible.

There's a lot of people hurting." The governor's emergency designation means sponsors of the proposal will need only a two-thirds vote of the House and -AX 3 IE On the Block Microsoft accused of falsifying videotape Discrepancy noticed during court demonstration aimed at showing problems of modified Windows Profit takers drag down stocks for second day NEW YORK Stocks prices declined Tuesday as investors, worried that higher interest rates will sack future corporate earnings, took profits for the second day in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 71.58 to 9,274.12, extending Monday's 13-point loss. The Dow was down 147.53 points before recovering. Broader stock indicators were lower as well, led by technology shares. The Nasdaq composite declined 46.67 to 2,463.42.

The Standard Poor's 500 lost 11.01 to 1,261.99. The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee began two days of policy meetings Tuesday, but economists don't expect the bankers to make a move on rates yet because they are mindful of the potential effect of economic troubles overseas. Brazilian bank to get new chief kfc i rs, 1 I SAO PAULO. I MJU AftlA I r-oA 1 1 ip.ffi GE (SIS i tzzz Brazil Seeking to calm jittery financial markets, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso nominated an investment strategist Tuesday to run the nation's Central Bank. In a surprise move, Cardoso removed Francisco Lopes after just three weeks and backed ArminioFraga.a former associate of billionaire investor and currency speculator i' Inacio TeixeriaAP Traders place their orders at the Sao Paulo stock exchange on Tuesday.

Ralph BarreraAA-S Lisa Manzo, afternoon anchorwoman at KEYE, talks with during Tuesday's noon broadcast. Granite Broadcasting floor director Adrian Neely while on commercial break Corp. put No. 3 KEYE up for sale last week. Money matters behind decision to sell station By Ted Bridis Associated Press WASHINGTON The government accused Microsoft on Tuesday of offering a false video as evidence during a court demonstration by the software company that purported to show severe problems resulting from the government's efforts to modify the company's Windows 98 software.

"I believe from what I've seen here is they filmed the wrong system," said James Allchin, a senior vice president and Microsoft's top computer scientist. He later added: "I'm not sure they would do anything like that" to mislead the judge. In one of the most dramatic moments of the antitrust trial against giant Microsoft Justice Department lawyer David Boies stopped a video demonstration in midframe to show a subtle inconsistency: the border showing the program's name was different in one part of the video than in another. On the video, Microsoft's marketing director. Yusuf Mehdi.

tests a version of Windows that the company said was modified by the government to disable its Internet functions. The issue is important because the government, as part of its lawsuit, alleges that under federal "tying" laws, Microsoft's design forces consumers who use Win dows also to use its browser, discouraging them from using popular rival software. By showing that Microsoft's Internet software can be disabled, the government hopes to illustrate that the company could be ordered to remove the software from Windows without harming Windows. Microsoft refutes that. "It's taking a very long time.

See Microsoft, D4 No. 1 station, where can they go but down?" Change isn't new to KEYE. It was launched in 1983 as KB VO. an independent station that ran old movies, reruns and children's shows. It became a Fox affiliate when the network debuted in 1987.

When Fox owner Rupert Murdoch bought KTBC (Channel 7) in 1995 and made it a Fox affiliate, KBVO switched to CBS and became KEYE. Since becoming KEYE, it has struggled with low ratings. The station lost its president and general manager last month when Dennis Upah left to become chief operating officer of Austin Internet company Empower Health Corp. Upah was hired by Granite in 1995 to establish a local-news presence See Granite, D4 By Lori Hawkins American-Statesman Staff Granite Broadcasting decision last week to put its local television station up for sale has as much to do with Detroit and San Francisco as it does with Austin. In the past two years, New York-based Granite stations in the two bigger cities that are considered among the hottest television markets in the country.

In doing so, it took on millions of dollars in debt. Granite officials are turning to KEYE Channel 42, which is No. 3 in local ratings, to raise cash. The company, which in May took on $175 million in debt, announced last Wednesday it had hired Goldman Sachs Co. to find a buyer for KEYE.

"We've decided we want to improve our balance sheet, and selling the sta tion will allow us to do that," said Don Cornwell, Granite's chief executive. "We made two very substantial investments in the last two years, and we've decided that is where we will turn our attention." Granite could make a nice profit from KEYE. It paid $54 million for it four years ago; based on other recent sales, it could fetch $100 million or more. In a similar move, for instance, Granite sold a station in the Grand Rapids, Mich, area in July for $150.5 million in cash. KEYE's third-place rating among local TV stations won't be considered a negative by potential buyers, Corn-well said.

"Most people view that as the upside," he said. "If you're selling the George Soros, to lead the Central Bank. Lopes had allowed the national currency, the real, to float freely on international markets after a devaluation. Higher airline taxes proposed WASHINGTON Airline travelers will likely see their ticket prices increase if the Clinton administration gets its way. Not only does the Transportation Department want to let cities and states raise an airport construction tax from $3 to $5 per stop, but its new budget proposes creating $1.5 billion in user fees for air traffic control.

At the same time, the administration plans to fight attempts to spend a $6.8 billion surplus expected in the nation's aviation trust fund. That money, generated by different ticket taxes, is itself supposed to be used for airport construction and other aviation improvements. Perot stock more than doubles DALLAS Perot Systems a computer services company founded by Texas billionaire and twice-failed presidential candidate Ross Perot, more than doubled in its first day of trading, helped by demand for technology stocks. Shares of the Dallas-based company rose $27.50 to $43.50 as 10.9 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Perot Systems on Monday sold 6.5 million shares at $16 each, a 7.7 percent stake in the company, raising $104 million.

Perot had already made a fortune when he started the company in 1988 to run computer and information systems for other businesses. That niche was the same one he exploited with Electronic Data Systems which he created in the early 1960s and sold to General Motors Corp. for $2.5 billion in 1984. Production at Ford plant canceled DEARBORN, Mich. Ford Motor the world's No.

2 automaker, canceled production for a second day at its historic River Rouge complex as investigators searched for the cause of an explosion that killed a worker and injured 30 others. The explosion Monday at the site in Dearborn, seven miles west of Detroit, knocked out the power supply for the production of glass, steel, engines and the Ford Mustang. As a result, production at 16 of Ford's 20 North American assembly plants could be disrupted, the company said. Items are compiled from staff and wire reports. How to contact us: Business Editor Becky Blsbee: 445-3671 Fax: 445-3971 E-mail: Businessstatesman.com P.O.

Box 670, Austin, TX 78767 Semiconductor sales expected to rise 15 Chamber plan for 1999: help build area's work force Ml By Erik Schatzker Bloomberg News SAN JOSE, Calif. Worldwide semiconductor sales are expected to rise 15 percent in 1999 to $154.5 billion after slumping for the past three years, according to market researcher Dataquest Inc. Much of that increase will come in the second half, as people buy new computers to replace the machines they fear may fail because of the so-called year 2000 bug. Chip sales fell 8.4 percent last year to $134.8 billion, Dataquest said. "The third quarter of 1999 should bring good semiconductor growth helped in part by 'protective ordering in advance of potential year 2000 problems," Dataquest analyst Ron Bohn said in a statement.

Older computers could crash on Jan. 1 because of a flaw that prevents software from distinguishing between 1900 and 2000. The 1998 chip industry downturn eliminated more than 2,000 jobs in Central Texas. The industry's current area employment is about 25,000 workers. Major employers are chip makers Motorola AMD Samsung Austin Semiconductor and Cypress Semiconductor and chip-equipment makers DuPont Photomasks Applied Materials Inc.

and Tokyo Electron. Also in its report, Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group said that memory-chip prices will rise this year. That could benefit companies such as Micron Technology the biggest U.S. memory-chip maker, and Samsung Austin Semiconductor, part of the world's biggest memory-chip maker. Last February, Dataquest said jt expected worldwide chip sales to 1 rise to $160 billion in t)98.

By Jerry Mahoney American-Statesman Staff Noting the passage of another year of economic prosperity, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday that its goals for 1999 include helping local employers thrive and strengthening the work force. Those are key recommendations of a recent chamber report called the Next Century Economy, said Earl Maxwell, the chamber's new chairman. He outlined the plan for an estimated 1,200 guests attending the chamber's annual banquet at the Frank Erwin Center. The chamber also honored Lee Walker, a business and community leader, as its Austinite of the Year. In his speech, Maxwell said the chamber must show small companies that are just starting out how it can help.

Kevin Virobik-AdamsFor AA-S Sisters Amanda, left, and Suzanna Walker congratulate their father, Lee Walker, Tuesday after he was named Austinite of the Year at the annual Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce banquet. "Instead of explaining to these emerging companies why the chamber is important to them, we must begin listening to what they need and then providing it," he said. Maxwell is a partner and owner in the Austin accountingfirm of Maxwell, Locke Ritter. He replaces Gary Valdez as chamber chairman, a one-year voluntary post in the See Chamber's, D4.