The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 73

Internet WWWSACBEECOM ujunmixTx Pages E3-E4 The Sacramento Bee FRIDAY February 26 1999 A Late rally saves Dow The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes 3333 points lower at 936634 after bargain hunters shrink a loss of 166 points during the final hour of trading Page 12 kf SACRAMENTO- 1 BUSINESS E2 qusfWE'- TWwfir SrSfS- AEL trades KXTV to Gsmnett Broadway office But it until Thursday morning that management came forward change scares people but I think (employees) are positive They have a very appropriate business attitude about said Cathy Creany acting general manger at KXTV and senior vice president of television group Several executives from Arlington Va headquarters are expected to meet with staff today It is the first time Gannett has re-entered Sacramento the 20th-largest national televi- Please see KXTV page E2 Belo gets top TV station in Austin By Cathleen Ferraro Bee Staff Writer KXTV Channel 10 has been swapped by its Dallas-based owner AH Belo to Gannett Co officials of the two giant media firms announced Thursday Under the agreement Belo will pay Gannett $55 million and give up the second-highest-rated Sacramento television station in exchange for KVUE an ABC affiliate with the No 1 market share in Austin Texas loved being there in Sacramento like to still be there but getting to Austin was more strategic to us and we had to find someone willing to sell or exchange their station (in that said Jim Moroney executive vice president of Belo The trade ends presence in Central and Northern California Statewide the media chain now owns only the Press-Enterprise a daily newspaper in Riverside The combined barter-cash deal will be come effective after approval by the Federal Communications Commission which is expected in about 90 days At that point Gannett Broadcasting would operate 21 television stations reaching 173 percent of the American TV market Under 15-year ownership ABC-affiliate KXTV moved from the No 3 position in the Sacramento market to No 2 according to the most recent AC Nielsen ratings Moroney said some of that progress was achieved by increasing the staff by at least 30 percent mostly in the news department Rumors of the swap circulated Wednesday among 175 employees at the 11 The industry is just dying for people We care what kind man woman whatever They just need to have skills The truth is as an industry we have an image problem Robert Moorhead National Center for Construction Education and Research SierraWest agrees to buyout by SF bank Long-rumored acquisition occurs ByPaulSchnitt Bee Staff Writer SierraWest Bancorp rumored for months to be a merger candidate will be acquired by the San Francisco-based parent of Bank of the West in a stock transaction valued at $194 million the firms announced late Thursday 20 branches mainly along Interstate 80 from Reno to the East Bay will become Bank of the West offices Bank of the West was particularly attracted to strength in commercial lending especially to small businesses said Don McGrath president of BancWest Corp He said that will complement Bank of the lending in specialized fields such as consumer finance equipment leasing and real estate William Fike president and chief executive of the Truckee-based SierraWest said the merger will benefit customers and its shareholders customers will now have access to a broader range of products and our shareholders will gain a significant equity position in a large well-diversified financial services company with a fSuch broader geographic reach said Bank of the West with assets of $15 billion has 143 branches in Northern California Oregon Washington and Idaho With the acquisition of $879 million in assets Bank of the West will become the fifth-largest bank in California with $86 in assets Bank of the West will also gain entry into Nevada with branches in Reno and Car-son City Under terms of the agreement SierraWest shareholders will receive 82 shares of BancWest common stock for each share of SierraWest common stock The boards of BancWest1 Bank of the West and SierraWest all approved the agreement but it still requires approval from SierraWest stockholders and federal and state regulators Bee staff writer Gilbert Chan contributed to this story Factory orders home sales flying New orders for big-ticket durable goods shot up at the fastest pace in 14 months while sales of existing homes climbed to an all-time high in January indicating that the US economy had plenty of momentum as it entered the new year The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders to American factories for durable goods jumped 39 percent led by a -big surge in demand for aircraft Home resales advanced by 08 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507 million units highest on record And in a third report the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 5000 last week pushing the four-week moving average to its lowest level in a decade Privacy group criticizes Intel chip In a challenge to Intel Corp over privacy concerns with its latest Pentium computer processors an Internet civil liberties group is alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices The Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology said it will file a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission about a controversial technology built into the Pentium III chips that the computer makers planned to begin selling today Intel the largest computer-chip maker designed the chips to transmit a unique serial number internally and to Web sites that request it to help verify the identity of consumers Intel said the technology will help online merchants eliminate fraud But some privacy groups contend it gives companies unprecedented ability to trace a digital footprints as they wander the Web CBS chief covets rival NBC CBS Corp Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said his company would be interested in buying NBC if the government eased rules that prevent one company from owning two broadcast television networks Karmazin told a group of advertising ex- ecutives in New Orleans that NBC would be a better fit with his company than NBC parent General Electric Co He also said that if Exxon Corp and Mo-' bil Corp the biggest oil companies could merge then CBS and NBC should be allowed to combine In short Sales at Gap Banana Republic and Old Navy stores jumped 40 percent in the fourth quarter pushing Gap earnings for the period up 46 percent The re- earnings for the quarter ended Jan -130 totaled $3139 million or 53 cents per share as sales totaled $3 billion up from $22 billion Government tests on the Honda CR-V Isuzu Rodeo and Kia Sportage show they protect passengers from side impacts just fine but with one surprising problem: The impacts caused the three sports-utility ve- hides to roll onto their sides JC Penney reported disappointing earnings as the department store chain to struggle against competition from discount chains and trendier retailers Plano Texas-based Penney earned $207 million or 77 cents a share in the fourth quarter up slightly from $201 million or 76 cents a share Sales declined to 1 $932 billion from $975 million The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose for the fourth 1 consecutive week Freddie Mac the 1 mortgage company said The average rose to 689 percent the highest level since mid- November from 682 percent Lycos Inc the popular World Wide Web gateway which is being bought by USA Networks Inc reported it lost $93 million in the recent quarter That com- pared to a profit of $301119 or 1 cent a share a year ago Simon Property Group Inc the na- largest shopping mall owner is buy- ing 14 malls in four states Massachusetts New Hampshire Connect-' icut and Virginia -from New England De-6 velopment Co for $17 billion Bee news services Associated Press photograph project in Plano Texas With a labor shortage the construction industry is trying to lure more women Nanette Randall 36 holds a reciprocating saw as she looks up at the ceiling while working on a construction Jrt woman for ttte job Construction industry turning to new labor source By Brigitte Greenberg Associated Press of EnviroKleen Contractors an asbestos and lead cleanup company in El Dorado agreed are women out there in construction already and trained equal to men but people just realize out Verdin also said that the boy still dominates the industry but that not impenetrable tried to break through to the point now where the good boy network is on my she said it took almost a decade to get Please see WOMEN pageE2 grade-schoolers to tap the next generation of workers industry is just dying for people We care what kind man woman whatever They just need to have said Robert Moorhead spokesman for the National Center for Construction Education and Research in Gainesville Fla truth is as an industry we have an image Moorhead said That problem: the notion that all construction workers are burly unshaven men who like to lift large pieces of sheet metal and dig ditches Kathy Verdin the 38-year-old owner EW HAVEN Conn From California to Connecticut building contractors are desperately searching for women who are handy with a hammer and comfortable in a hard hat With the economy booming and buildings going up rapidly the construction industry faces a severe labor shortage As a result recruiters have been looking to hire women fresh out of high school and former homemakers returning to the work force even talking to Merchants Bank chief Bolton dies at age 43 New bank set to debut following big stock sale Branches will open in Roseville Folsom By Paul Schnitt on the ground floor of a new office Bee Staff Writer building on Douglas Boulevard at Thomas Bolton directors will now return as chief executive according to an announcement by the bank Thursday The 18 employees of Merchants National were devastated by sudden death on Tuesday a very close-knit said Stephen Meyers the chief operating officer an absolute tragic wife CeCe said her husband was not only a boss to the employees but their friend went skiing with them and we did family things together and went on CeCe Bolton said was Please see BOLTON pageE2 ByPaulSchnitt and Mark Glover Bee Staff Writers Thomas Bolton president of Merchants National Bank in downtown Sacramento whose family ownership spanned three generations died suddenly this week at age 43 after being stricken by bacterial spinal meningitis Bolton succeeded his father Thomas Bolton Jr as the chief executive three years ago and was charged with leading ths smallest and oldest community bank into the 21st century His father who is 78 and chairman of the board of i East Roseville Parkway about two miles east of Interstate 80 to be open by June or July Giomi said The Folsom branch will be on East Bidwell Road near Oak Avenue to be completed by early August he said From those two locations Silverado will try to attract small to medium-size businesses and professionals in Roseville and Folsom as well as Rocklin Lincoln Loomis Granite Bay Rancho Cordova and El Dorado Hills Giomi said timing is right and the PleaM see SILVERADO par E2 Backers of a new independent bank for the Roseville and Folsom areas are on schedule to raise between $8 million and $10 million and open two offices by this summer State and federal bank regulators gave their approval in December for the proposed Silverado Bank to sell stock going said Hal Giomi a veteran banker who will become board chairman and chief executive a lot of interest in the people talked The batik's main office vll be The president of Merchants National Bank took over from his father three years ago For expanded versions of stories appearing in Briefing go to wwwsacbettcomnewsblz.