El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 39

Gafagc 3)i Havea parage tale. 4HsfW TIlllCS Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 Business Editor Ed Shugert, 546-6124, eshugerteipasotimes.com www.elpasotimes.com 5 1 Dow 57.85 9,710.83 i 6.72 1,043.63 NASDAQ 20.65 1,909.61 AMEX L69 L.07L48 NYSE 4738 5,963.35 1 US. 1L16 pesos MC Win elpasotimes.cdm rli 111 0 uu Easysavings Tips on where to find money to save: Fifty cents a day in loose change equals $15 a month. Taking lunch to work (saving estimated $3 a day) equals $60 a month.

Eating out two fewer times a month equals $30. Borrowing instead of buying one book a month equals $15. Source: www.americasaves.org By Suzanne Gamboa Associated Press WASHINGTON Hispanics are less likely to save regularly than Americans overall because they are typically younger, have lower incomes and are less proficient in English, an analysis suggests. The lack of savings contributes to a gap in net worth between Hispanic and other American households, said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America. save regularly, compared with 41 percent of all Americans, and Hispanics plan financiaL'y for the next few months as opposed to the next five years, the analysis found.

Manuel MirabaL president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, said one barrier to saving that almost 70 percent of Hispanics who work have low incomes. In El Paso, community officials began a savings program in 2002 called El Paso Saves with the help of Consumer Federation of America and Freddie Mac. America Saves," an expansion of a program known as "America Saves," which has enrolled 13,000 people who develop savings goals and a plan to achieve them. Hispanic America Saves will provide bilingual information, a newsletter and free advice from registered financial planners. The typical Hispanic household in the United States has a median net worth of $11,450, compared with $86,100 for all American households, according to the Federal Reserve Board.

Only 33 percent of Hispanics The federation and Freddie Mac said Monday they were joining with Hispanic groups to create a program known as "Hispanic gfco asagfti IJfflffMfe ItaUMfasy California LOCALBUSuiESS Loan seminar to help veterans, minorities The U.S. Small Business Administration will present the free Community Express Loan Seminar from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the One Stop Business Resource Center, Cactus Room, 1359 Lomaland. The Community Express Loan is designed to provide financing opportunities for veterans, women, minorities and entrepreneurs in low- to moderate-income urban and rural areas. The maximum loan amount is $250,000.

SBA business partners at the seminar will include the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Service Corps of Retired Executives. Information: 633-7001. Times staff report NATIONBUSINESS 2nd giant in business insurance emerges MINNEAPOLIS Travelers Property Casualty Corp. is combining with the St. Paul Cos.

Inc. in a $16.5 billion stock deal that will create the nation's second-largest business insurer. The new company will be known as the St. Paul Travelers Cos. and is expected to have total assets of $107 billion, the companies announced Monday.

The deal mixes Travelers' strength in general commercial insurance and personal insurance like home, auto and life insurance with the St. Paul's specialty commercial lines of insurance. Associated Press Tough-love accounting: The accounting industry is getting a chance to reform itself, 4 EST r-n hCA X. i but firms that don't do it willingly will be punished harshly, the head of an in- company purchases KDBC By David Peregrine- El Paso Times The Imes Communications subsidiary that owns El Paso CBS affiliate Channel 4-KDBC (cable Channel 3) has agreed to sell the station to a California media company for $20 million, about $13 million less than what Imes reportedly paid for the station in the late 1980s. Pappas Telecasting Companies announced its agreement Monday to buy the station from the KDBC-TV Limited Partnership.

Pappas, owner of several Spanish-language stations, said it will continue operating KDBC as a CBS affiliate. "We think (El Paso) is an area that's going to grow and thrive economically in the years to come," Pappas spokesman Mike Angelos said, explaining why the company pursued KDBC. "It fits into our pattern of adding stations in the Southwestern U.S." Federal Communications Commission approval is still needed to close the sale, but Pappas began running the station Monday under the terms of the agreement, Angelos said. Pappas named Howard H. Shrier, the company's TV Station Group senior executive vice president and COO, as the station's interim general manager.

He replaces Don Caparis, who remains as a KDBC licensee representative, Shrier said. It did not announce any other KDBC personnel changes. Shrier said the KDBC would "definitely" bring back the weekend local news coverage that it dropped two years ago, but couldn't yet say when. "Our company is significantly committed to news," Shrier said. Privately held Pappas, which owns or manages 23 television stations, made a play for KDBC three years ago, reportedly to make it a part of its Spanish-language Azteca America network.

But that deal fell through possibly because of Imes' asking price, said Kevin Lovell, general manager of ABC affiliate Channel 7-KVIA (cable Channel 6). Imes bought the station for a reported $33 million in 1988. "They've been wanting to sell it for some time," Lovell said. David Peregrino may be reached at dperegnnotgelpasotimes.com Rudy Gutierrez El Paso Times El Pasoans John and Donna Houston looked at warmups for September, better than El Paso's 1.43 percent increase for the their grandchildren Monday at the Mervyn's In Bassett Center, same period last year. El Paso had an 11.04 percent increase El Paso's 2003 sales tax rebates rose 2.96 percent through to $4.7 million in sales tax rebates for September sales.

City's sales tax rebates surpass '02's dependent oversight board says. William McDonough Othercities eIpasotimcs.com By Vic Kolenc El Paso Times El Paso's retail industry appears to be performing better this year than last year, new state sales tax data indicates. El Paso's sales, tax rebates from the state an indication of retail activity increased 2.96 percent for the first nine months of the. year to a total $35.7 million, data released Friday from the state comptroller's office shows. That's better than the 1.43 percent increase in sales taxes returned to the city for the first nine months of 2002.

El Paso's monthly sales tax rebate increases have beat most other major metro areas in Texas through much of the year a trend that continued for September, the latest month for which sales tax rebate data is available. El Paso recorded an 11.04 percent increase to $4.7 million in state sales tax rebates for September. That increase includes some sales for July and August as small retailers, who return 1 San Antonio: 2 per- cent. Austin: 4.08 per-, cent. McAllen: 7.83 percent.

Source: Texas comptroller's office. said she continued to buy about the same amount of merchandise this year as last even though her income declined because she reduced her work hours to attend school. She's adjusted in other ways. "I'm buying less-expensive brands, more generic brands," Garcia said. Garcia, who has already started her Christmas shopping, said she expects to spend more on gifts this year than last.

"I feel good about the econo-Please see Rebates 4F Increases in Novem-; ber sales tax rebates in other Texas cities for mostly September sales: Houston: 9.01 percent. Dallas: 4.35 percent. shopping season, Furgeson said. She said she can't reveal any specific sales numbers. Zack Ali, owner of Oro Italia, a jewelry store in Cielo Vista Mall, said sales so far this year have been about 20 percent below last year's sales.

"Not everyone wants to buy luxury items" when the economy's hurting, Ali said. He also owns a Subway sandwich franchise in Cielo Vista, where sales have been slightly lower than a year ago, Ali said. Yvette Garcia, 28, a single mother of a 6-year-old boy, sales taxes quarterly, filed third-quarter tax returns, the comptroller's office reported. Some El Paso retailers said local and national economic conditions have hurt sales. "Sales were a little soft for the first half of the year.

That's consistent with the. retail industry," said Daphne Furgeson, store manager at Mervyn's in Bassett Center. "We're hitting our projections. We had some nice little peaks," such as Easter when customers from Mexico helped boost sales above store projections for that holiday, Furgeson said. Colder weather has sparked increased sales in October and hopes for a strong Christmas who heads the board created to shore up investor confidence, said he is bringing "tough love" to the job of policing the nation's auditors of public companies.

He also said the board will be working at full effectiveness in about a year despite having hired only 33 inspectors so far. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board believes it will need at least 125 inspectors to examine the hundreds, of ac: counting firms that audit the books of publicly traded corporations. Associated Press 4-year moratorium: DAYTON, Ohio A tentative contract reached by Delphi Corp. and a union representing 10,000 workers at 10 plants around the country would prohibit the auto-parts maker from closing those sites for four years, the union said Monday. Persuading Delphi of Troy, to agree to the moratorium was a major victory for the International Union of Electronic WorkersCommunications Workers of America, analysts said.

Delphi spokesman David Bodkin would not release any details of the four-year agree- ment reached Sunday in Troy. Associated Press Morgan Stanley to pay: In what regulators called a groundbreaking action against the mutual fund industry, Mor- gan Stanley on Monday agreed to pay $50 million to settle alle- gations it steered customers into products that often benefited the firm more than the investor. Without admitting or denying guilt, the firm agreed to the payment, and to change disclosure and other practices, in response to charges it pushed certain of its funds and preferred funds from other firms so it could reap higher fees. Chicago Tribune Any steel decision could harm workers steel wars The World Trade Oroanization has ruled that 1 1 toal tariffs inw global trade agreements. By Ken Moritsugu mi mi, ,1 if I iVKSTCn 2002 are illegal, and the European Union is threatening to impose $2 2 billion in sanctions.

and West Virginia. But Europe's tariffs to be imposed if Bush doesn't stop protecting U.S. steel makers would likely hit apple pickers in the Pacific Northwest, paper mill workers in the upper Angry trading partners Vear-to-date imports from countries filing WTO complaint, In millions of dollars Aug, Aug. 2002 2ona European Union Brazil $466 Uqj China Sl273jjj Japan $657 49- However, lifting the tariffs would probably lead to a rise in steel imports and could erase 3,000 to 5,000 steel jobs, estimated Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Institute for International Economics in Washington. Even before Europe retaliates, the tariffs come with a price.

The tariffs, which range from 7 percent to 24 percent, have pushed up the price of steel for the hundreds of small and medium-sized companies. Higher costs squeeze profits. "That means jobs are being lost," said William Gaskin, president of the Cleveland-based Precision Metalforming Association. Knight Ridder News. Service WASHINGTON Thousands of U.S.

workers are likely to get hurt whether President Bush lifts tariffs on imported steel or leaves them in place. That's a politician's nightmare for Bush, who faces a mid-December deadline to eliminate the tariff or face retaliatory levies from Europe on a broad range of American exports. Lifting the tariffs could result in more bankruptcies and job losses in the struggling steel industry, which' employs 121,000 people, many in such key election states as Ohio, Pennsylvania Drop in U.S. steel imports Imports, in metric tons Sept. 2002 Sept.

2003 IZZ3l.7 MHoa Value of Imports, in dollars Sept. 2002 Sept. 2003 tZZZZZZZl $822 mUUon Source: U.S. Commerce Department Midwest and citrus and garment workers in the Southeast. "These penalties would be disastrous to my members," Kevin Burke, president of the American Apparel Footwear Association, wrote in a letter to Bush last month.

The World Trade Organization, which regulates international trade, ruled earlier this month that the tariffs Bush imposed on imported steel in March 2002 are in violation of Norway $9 4 South Korea 4396 tr Switzerland 11? Aiiguit data Is latast avaliabl Knight Ridde, New,.