Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • 37

jFast Fabulous' Daily Menu Specials Tuesday-Frlday Happy Hour Restaurant Cantina I Strilene Strporter-12rh Tax zone near airport gets initial OK BRIEFCASE Microsoft ture such as roads and railways truly believe a TIF district is a win-win for the puhlic side and the private side" he said The reinvestment zone would benefit a city plan for a multimodal business park which would be on about 350 acres inside tiie zone Rail and road Improvements are necessary for development of tiie park Burdine said Funds from the zone could also pay far improvements to city-owned buildings at the airport Several months of research and planning remain for city staff and the two boards to make the reinvestment zone a Please see TAX Page 30 the Abilene Wylie and Eula school dis- see any new charges as a result of the tricts zone although rising property values The district would establish a bare could raise their tax levies property value as of Jan 1 on the des- The city and the county would not ignated area surrounding the airport receive property taxes beyond the real said Richard Burdine assistant city estate's bare value but would collect manager Tax revenue gained on new additional taxes on any business inven-development would be reinvested Into tory resulting from development the area whore boundaries have not yet School districts cannot participate In been determined reinvestment zones so they would gar- Funds gathered from the taxes could ner additional funds from increased val-be used only far public projects ues and development Setup of the zone would be similar to The DCOA hired Schrader Cline a that of Tax Increment tax consultant to guide the creation of Financing district which has helped to the zone Larry Cline said reinvestment redevelop the central business district zones increase development in a partic-Nearby property owners would not ular area by creating public infrastruc- French-Fried Revolution By MeNsea Borden Reporter-News Staff Writer A tax reinvestment zone should help increase development around Abilene Regional Airport city officials said prior to the zone's approval Thursday The zone won initial approval from the Development Corporation of Abilene which administers the half-cent sales tax far economic development and the Airport Development Board during a special Joint meeting The Issue will ultimately be decided by the Abilene City Council and win be reviewed by the designated taxing entities: the city Taylor County and Customers wait In Hne to get a seat embraces the outside world fast-food AhocMW nan at pMN at China's first Taco Ball In Shanghai In May 2003 As China increasingly chains are kicking off a high-speed expansion In the world's largest market to alter some software for online music Microsoft Corp has agreed under pressure to change its Windows software to resolve complaints by the Justice Department that it unfairly Influenced how customers buy their music online the government said Thursday Microsoft will offer updated software for its Windows XP operating system in February or March to stop its disputed practice of compelling consumers who buy music on the Web to use only Internet browser The company continues to maintain its design was legal Government antitrust lawyers concluded that the design violated die landmark antitrust settlement approved by a federal court in October 2002 Engibous to step down CEO of Texas Instruments Semiconductor maker Texas Instruments Inc said Thursday that Thomas Engibous will step down as president and chief executive on May 1 and be replaced by chief operating officer Richard Templeton Officials at Texas Instruments which makes computer chips far more than half the world's wireless phones termed the change a planned and orderly succession Engibous 50 win remain chairman of the Dallas-based company Ppntagnn auditors lt Cor further probe of Halliburton WASHINGTON Pentagon auditors say Vice President Dick farmer company should be Investigated far possibly overcharging the military far gasoline delivered to Iraqi civilians The Defense Contract Audit Agency this week asked the department's inspector general to investigate Halliburton Pentagon officials said DCAA auditors determined last month that Halliburton subsidiary KBR may have overcharged by more than $61 million for ftiel it bought in Kuwait and delivered in Iraq German economy shrank in 2003 for third straight year FRANKFURT Germany Germany's economy shrank last year far the first time in a decade as consumer spending and company spending on new equipment fell official data showed Thursday tinder scoring persistent weaknesses in Europe's biggest economy even as most observers predict a modest recovery in 2001 Economic output fell 01 percent in 2003 from the previous year a third straight year of stagnation Mowing Increases of (U percent in 2002 and 06 percent In 2001 It was the worst annual figure since 1993 when the economy shrank 11 percent From wire reports Yahoo emerges By Michael Uedtke Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO cheering again at Yahoo! Inc The dot-com bellwether has recovered $21 billion in shareholder wealth by astutely anticipating the habits of Web so much so in fact that it now outranks MSN and America Online as the top destination After a mortifying two-year slump the Sunnyvale Calif -based company made a $238 million profit in 2003 impressing disillusioned investors who had written Fast food conquering China as American chains expand BlueStone buys area TV stations By Brian Murphy Reporter-News Staff Writer Two Abilene television stations have a new owner but their general manager said viewers see any on-air changes BlueStone Television announced it is buying ABC affiliate KTXS-TV and Tele-mundo affiliate KTES-TVand San ABC affiliate KTXE-TVfrom Williamsport Lamco Lamco announced in 2002 it was seeking buyers far its stations Officials for BlueStone based in Wichita Kan are awaiting final approval from the Federal Communications Commission which regulates broadcast industry ownershipi Jackie Rutledge general manager of the Abilene and San Angelo stations said viewers will continue seeing thefr favorite network programs local news and syndicated shows She said she anticipates no immediate changes to the operations than positive Sandy DiPasquale president and chief executive officer of BlueStone said in a statement he looks forward to working with talented general managers and employees of these stations to continue their tradition of Lamco acquired KTXS second-oldest TV station in 1986 It is me of 12 stations In North Carolina California Montana and Virginia Tennessee that BlueStone is buying Lamco and BlueStone did not disclose the purchase price Providence Equity Partners a firm witii offices in Rhode Island and New York that invests in media and finmtminications ffompwniffffi fjjmiftd BlueStone in 2002 to operate TV stations The Lamco stations are first purchase To ensure compliance with regulatory requirements Newport Broadcasting Inc a company separately owned and controlled by DiPasquale will acquire Lamco station WCTT-TV which serves three North Carolina cities prior to BlueStone's acquisition of the other Lamco assets DiPasquale has some familiarity with the Abilene and San Angelo markets He was president and chief operating officer of STC Broadcasting from 1997 until its 2002 merger with UN Broadcasting STC owned NBC affiliates KRBC-TV in Abilene and KACB-TV in San Angela UN sold KRBC and KACB (now called KSAN-TV) to Ohio's Mission Broadcasting last year Raddng Record Searchlight reporter David Benda contributed to this report By Tad Anthony Associated Press BEIJING Colonel Sanders whose bearded down-home visage adorns chicken restaurants from Kentucky to Karachi is headed far a new frontier the mountains of Tibet more: Taco Bell will expand across China in the near ftiture Pizza Hut will step up its home deliveries And is adding 100 more restaurants to the 560 it already has in the country As China increasingly embraces the outside world and its snack food US fast-food chains are kicking off a high-speed expansion in the world's biggest market On Thursday executives from Louisville Ky -based Yum! Restaurants offered an optimistic blueprint fix: their KFC Taco Bell People walk past a Chinese flag and a street advertisement for Kentucky Fried Chicken in October 2003 In Shanghai and Puza Hut restaurants ahead of a meeting of regional managers marking the opening of KFC's 1000th outlet in China And tiie statecontrbUed newspaper China Daily said Thursday that McDonald's plans to open neatly 100 more restaurants this year It quoted Tim Lai north China managing director of McDonald's China Development Company Flans are also under way far more sites of tiie Chinese version of Bell which currently has one in Shanghai Gearing fast food toward local stomachs while retaining its prestige as a foreign brand is a delicate balance KFC has adapted with fare like tiie Beijing a wrap modeled after the way Peking duck is served but with fried chicken inside see CHINA Page 3D California home comeback represents another hopefiil sign far the high-tech industry As more people get high-speed Internet connections in their hones and invest in portable devices to stay online tech leaders like Intel Coin and Apple Computer Inc also are repotting higher profits After deteriorating from a 2000 high of $23750 to a 2001 low of $8A2 stock price has tripled since fee end of 2002 reaching $48 in mid-January The Silicon Valley Web sites emerged as the most popular Internet destinations the last two from dot-com gloom to regain its pre-bust luster months surpassing Microsoft Corpi's MSN and Time Warner AOL for the first time according to comScore Networks which tracks Web use Yahoo had 111 million unique visitors in rinrpmhpr Yahoo has thrived while Microsoft has directed much of its attention at luring traffic from AOL said industry analyst Rob Enderie But that could quickly change if MSN AOL or another major Web site targets Yahoo While MSN and AOL can count on see YAHOO Page 3D off Yahoo as another Internet has-been Rave reviews are pouring in far chief executive Terry Semel the former head of Warner Bros who came to the rescue in May 200L been a very exciting trip because tiie results have been so said Semel who still spends weekends at his southern.