The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 23

DOW JONES: 2210 NASDAQ: 1765 238 10-YEAR T-NOTE YIELD: 473 SECTION BUSINESS 'wwwkan8ascitycom THE KANSAS CITY STAR Wednesday March 8 2008 EVEN AS THE BIG GET BIGGER COMPANY EXPECTS TO GROW FASTER THAN ITS RIVALS SPRINT GIRDS FOR MARKET BATTLE are going to be the company best positioned to Sprint CEO Gary Forsee Cable teamwork cited as a key factor in strong position By IASON GERTZEN The Kama City Star cable industry" Forsee said It is these very deals that make Sprint much less of a takeover tar get today as the telecommunications industry shows that it has yel to satisfy its ravenous appetite for mergers and acquisitions In the days following blockbuster BellSouth announcement much of the attention has turned to need to min complete control of its wireless nies no longer are settling for mere slices of a spending on communications and entertainment Ever bigger companies are seeking bigger chunks of household budgets for phones Internet access and television Cable companies are getting into the phone business Phone companies are striving to offer video And executives of companies such as Sprint fancy themselves as sellers of entertainment and information as well as calling services Donahue and Gary Forsee president and chief executive officer combined their companies in a $388 billion deal of their own last year Their aim was to get big enough to take on the wireless industry's top tier of Cingular Wirdcss and Verizon Wireless Before the year ended Forsee also engineered a 20-year $200 million joint venture with cable industry luminaries such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable are so well positioned with the "We have everything we need to do Tim Donahue Sprint's chairman said Tuesday at the start of his company's annual meeting with Wall Street analysts Reverberations from the newly announced $67 billion mega deal between Inc and BeUSouth Corp rumbled through the mote than four hours Sprint executives spent explaining their growth strategy- As the telecommunications industry continues to shift compa Teamed up with cable television partners Sprint Nestd Corp declared itself ready to scrap with emerging telephone industry Sec SPRINT C-5 WERE USING THE EQUITY TO JUICE The accused PROPOSED FINES EXCEED $380000 OSHA case tied to plant in Olathe Lead exposure alleged at facility By RANDOLPH HEASTER The Kansas City Star CARLOS JAVIER SANCHEZBloombeig News Skilling VIEWERSHIP INCREASE EXPECTED KCWE snags new network Affiliation with The CW is a minor coup for buyer By AARON BARNHART The Kansas City Star The CW a new network that will replace the WB and UPN networks this fall has named its local affiliate in Kansas City It is KCWE-TV the UPN affiliate and sister station of ABC affiliate KMBC-TV owned by Hearst Corp Beginning SepL 6 The CW will air shows that previously were seen on The WB and UPN as well as programming afternoons and weekends That means and currently seen on KSMO-TV also known as will be migrating to KCWE along with other WB shows that are selected for The six-nights-a-week prime time schedule Next Top Model" "Everybody Hates and "WWE are among UPN shows expected to survive the summer though The CW may shift them to new nights The new network which was announced in January is jointly owned and operated by CBS Coip which owns UPN and Time Warner the majority owner of The WB Strictly speaking the two networks be merged but shuttered and their assets wall be reallocated to The CW Getting the affiliation was a minor coup for Hearst the New York-based station group that owns KMBC-TV and is in the process of gaining government approval to buy KCWE It is mst CW affiliate and will join a stable dominated by NBC and ABC stations Andrew Fastow testified that: Kenneth Lay chairman and chief executive officer was among top Enron officials who knew of and approved partnerships that helped the company hide millions of dollars in losses Jeffrey Skilling chief operating officer when the partnerships were formed told him to me as much juice as you out of the partnerships to inflate Enron earnings Andrew Fastow former Enron Corp CFO told a jury Tuesday that he had the blessing of his boss Jeffrey Skilling for moves that allowed the company to hide losses and inflate profits Fastow tells of fraud deceit By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO and VIKAS BAJA) The New York Time See NETWORK C-8 A federal agency has proposed fining two Michigan demolition companies more than $380000 for not protecting workers from lead exposure at the former Delphi Corp battery riant in Olathe WSI Industrial Services Inc and Honuich Inc were cited Tuesday by the Occupational Safety nl Health Administration for alleged violations while doing demolition work on the battery plant OSHA has proposed fines of $212500 for WSI and $169200 for Honuich Neither firm could be reached for comment Tuesday Hie Delphi plant was dosed in February 2005 and demolition began later in the year OSHA an agency of the US Labor Department began an inspection of the site in August based on a complaint about lead exposure said Charles Adkins regional director in Kansas City The inspection resulted in allegations of one serious and six willful violations against WSI and one serious and three wiilfid violations against Honuich OSHA said serious violation was for failure to post warning signs about lead exposure For Honuich die serious violation was for failing to provide results for blood lead level tests in writing to each employee Serious violations mean employers knew or should have known that serious hazards existed that could have led to death or serious injury The various willful violations alleged against the companies include failure to perform an initial lead exposure assessment failure to provide respiratory equipment or protective work clothing and failure to provide a clean changing or showering area Willful violations according to OSHA are those in which employers disregard or are indifferent to federal workplace regulations Both companies have 15 business days to comply with the citations set up an informal conference with the OSHA area director or officially contest the matter before an OSHA independent review commission WSI based in Trenton Mich has 40 employees and Honuich based in Carieton Mich has 85 according to OSHA The proposed fines are significant but not uncommon OSHA has proposed fines of more than $100000 against several employers around the country this year One St Louis manufacturer was cited for nearly $800000 in alleged violations in January Following a 1998 explosion at its Wichita grain elevator that left seven workers dead North Kansas City-based DeBiuce Grain Co reached a $085000 settlement with OSHA which initially proposed a $17 million fine To reach Randolph Heaster call (816) 234-4746 or send e-mail to itoiitwHuliw com for the fraud Fastow is expected to come under heavy attack during cross examination On Tuesday Fastow outlined the partnerships IJM1 and UM2 and acknowledged that he had created invested in and profited from them He also said that board and top two executives had discussed the questionable nature of the partnerships but ultimately approved them See FASTOW C-8 frey Skilling the two former top executives at Enron By saying that his superiors knew about the partnerships which inflated profit picture by hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in losses Fastow bolstered prosecution charges of fraud and conspiracy stemming from the collapse of Enron in December 2001 But Fastow also is key to the de-fenst which maintains that he rather than Lay and Skilling was responsible HOUSTON Enron Corpus former finance chief testified Tuesday that his bosses and the board approved two off-the-books partnerships at the heart of die fraud The long-awaited testimony of Andrew Fastow raised the stakes in the criminal trial of Kenneth Lay and Jef BUSINESS NE WS INSIDE The efficiency of American workers declined in the final three months of 2005 the first time that has happened in more than four years Cr2 The Missouri House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would put new restrictioris on the use of tax increment financing C-3 THE MORNING MEMO YOUNG ENGINEERS COMPETE They will come they will build it sued a split decision Among its 7600 ticket and reservations agents 67 percent voted to approve the proposal But 60 percent of its 5600 baggage handlers and stock clerks voted it down The company said it would a bankruptcy judge to re-start proceedings aimed at rejecting the contract with those workers who voted down the proposed settlement Microsoft search engine In its latest bid to catch up with rivals Google Inc and Yahoo Inc Microsoft Corp is launching a revamped Internet search engine Microsoft says the new service will help computer users find information faster view it more easily and organize it better Making its debut in test form today Windows Live Search is latest move to create online products to complement its main cash cows: the Windows operating system and Office business GM pension plans General Motors Corp on Tuesday became the latest major employer to convert its traditional pension plan which gives retirees a defined payout to a system in which the company makes a set contribution that supplements savings Effective Jan 1 GM will freeze the accrued pension benefits for about 42000 US salaried employees and put those employees into new plans a tactic many large companies are using to trim their skyrocketing pension costs The change affect retirees or hourly workers IlnitfMimfi Airliner Normweu Airlines Baggage handlers at Northwest Airlines Corp rejected the proposed pay cuts and authorized a strike their union said on Tuesday Workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is By JOE ROBERTSON and RANDOLPH HEASTER The Kansas City Star The Midwest's thirst for engineering talent is so severe that even a deluge of 2500 students with scale models quench it While the annual convergence of middle school students and their projects on Union Station on Tuesday has come a long way from the 64 students in the first design-build competition eight years ago industry organizers think the effort to engage more schools is about to explode goal next year is to get 50000 said Craig Wright executive director of the National Institute for Construction Excellence The institute created and supported by the local KEITH MYERSThe Kansu City Star This display by Iron Workers Local 10 at Union Station caught Emily attention She attends Our Lady of Presentation in Summit See PROJECTS C-5.