Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • 61

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COME BY A CHECK OUT' Moi-Frl 730m 130pm Sat 730m 430pm Sun 12pm-4pm Wednesday January 8 2003 wwwreporternewscom Sbilrne to dUnsciinss pirodlwdtm BRIEFCASE Citrus crops see below i average year By Bruce Stanley Associated Press Countries The group is weighing proposals to Increase output by as much as 15 million barrels a day in an effort to subdue prices A hike in production would represent an abrupt reversal in OPEC policy OPEC 11 members decided less than a month ago to slash output by up to 17 million barrels a day in hope of preventing a price decline when seasonal demand dips this spring Ministers of all member countries except Algeria have agreed to meet Sunday at the headquarters in Vienna Austria the official said Algerian minister Chakib Khelil was aboard a plane late Tuesday and could not be readied to confirm if he could attend said die official speaking on condition of anonymity Since Dec 12 decision to cut production worrisome signs of a potential shortage have begun to appear Oil shipments from Venezuela normally third-largest producer have dwindled by some 80 percent because of a month-old strike aimed at forcing the president Hugo Chavez from office A US-led attack on Iraq would halt exports from that country which has the second-biggest crude reserves after Saudi Arabia OPEC officials have said the group cannot pump enough additional crude to make up for a simultaneous loss of exports from Venezuela and Iraq which together have historically exported roughly 4 million barrels a day OPEC's remaining members have a spare Please see OPEC Page 3E LONDON OPEC representatives hoping to ease fears of a possible oil plan an emergency meeting this weekend to discuss boosting the crude production by up to percent an OPEC official said Tuesday Oil prices have surged in recent weeks on concerns over deepening turmoil in Venezuela and a possible war against Iraq key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Ratings Race ABC KTXS edge KTAB in PM Local TV RatingsSharM WnMayi Nov 1Q2 JutyV2 Nov VI KTXS Maws 822 821 821 10 PM Local TV RatingaSharas Waakdayi NovV2 JutyV2 Nov I KTAB 1528 1222 1528 KIDZ UepTHtdeOnp 00 00 Mrtw OO Monte KIDZ 00 IMu 36 fflHnai -12 4 rt FsV 4 j--AMay Local TV RattagaMarae Weekdays 'V2MayV2: 1 PM Lacal TV RatlngSSharee Weekdays Nw X)2 JutyV2 i KTXS 415 I-- Jc if-r s1 Vv i COLLEGE STATION The prices and production of Texas citrus are striking a sour note among the tele's growers this year Texas Cooperative Extension reports are lagging substantially and prices are down from last year" bald Dc Julian Sauls of Weslaco extension horticulturist Citrus harvest lasts from September to June the possible exception of California die total US crop is down Sauls said orange and grapefruit crop is even down significantly" Texas production is only down 4 percent to 5 percent However with a steep drop in the volume of available fruit prices should be upi "This the Sauls said are down and movement is slow When movement is slow prices fall even further" A combination of foetus including lack of adequate rainfall and irrigation watec have contributed to the drop in yields Trees are beginning to feel the toIL Best and worst listed i 'ATLANTA After a year like 2CfB Business Wxk (Jan 13) might have been excused fix: skipping its arinual "best and executives special But the magazine decided that ever there was a year to examine the fnaiiy ways in whidi managers and turbulent 2002 was Half the job was a nohrainer of course given the number of corporate Scandals last year That made a challenge of picking the good guys Among CEOs on the list are Steve Ballmer of Microsoft Rich Barjap of Expedia Fqjio Cho of TpjcJa Motor Joe Neubauer of Aramark and Michael Dell of Dell Computer I The list includes Sandy Weill of Citigroup Bill Harrison of JP Morgan Chase James and Charles Dolan of Cablevision Paul Allen of Charter Communications and Gerald Levin of AOL Time Warner FBI traps faux FBI agent HOUSTON A Mexican citizen living in Houston has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for impersonating an FBI agent in an attempt to dupe a businessman out of $15000 to prevent a fictitious contract killing US Attorney Midiael Shelby announced Tuesday Luis Francisco Mar 35 identified himself as an FBI agent during a series of calls made to a Houston businessman between July 18 and July 25 2002 conviction is the result of aui Investigation conducted by real FBI office said Tuesday himself as an FBI agent Mar told the businessman that a drug trafficker had put out a $30000 contract to kill Dynegy optimistic Dynegy Inc expects fo beat Wall earnings expectations leave money-losing trading and communications businesses behind and regain its financial footing in 2003 the leaders Said Tuesday The company released a 2003 ear n- He number ii i tttaftntlng St acond ii fe dm MinoriMrartwddlVhoiiMtottffpnonilumdtoiipKMcsaian ShnpnirtiQidpMpfeiricliiisWiiitoMtaitoljptidfcddioii By Brien Murphy Reporter-News Staff Writer Dr Phil was just what the doctor ordered for KTXS-TV More news was good news for KRBC-TV But the big news is KTAB-TV was not the Big favorite station in November ABC affiliate KTXS rode a stronger afternoon lineup to a razor-thin victory over CBS affiliate KTAB in the November television ratings die last ratings period That was the first time in at least eight years that a station other than KTAB was No 1 in a ratings survey that did not feature the Olympics (reports before 1994 were not available) 5 pm weekday newscasts which debuted in October earned the station its highest 5 pun ratings in four years KRBC also increased its morning news audience The report comes from Nielsen Media Research which surveys TV viewers across the country four times a year to determine most popular programs TV programmers use the reports to decide which shows stay on the air and business people use them to decide where to advertise Viewers in 16 Big Country counties were surveyed KTXS General Manager Jackie Rutledge was more anxious to discuss ability to attract younger viewers that advertisers covet than the lead in overall viewership But she didn't complain either was like Christmas for us" she said KTXS usually strong in the morning and late at night gained ground in the afternoons Psychologist Dc Phil McGraw formerly a frequent guest on The Oprah Broadcaat area: Brown Callahan Coleman Eastland Fisher Haaked Jones Knox Mhchei Nolan fturvwfe Scurry ShackaMord Stephens Households In bmadout area: 116500 it Households In broadcaat ana with tefevlalon sets: 114660 V-KrV KIDZ (channel 54 Cox Communications cable channel 18): UPNPAX KRBC (channel 9 Cox channel 5): NBC KTAB (channel 3Z Cox channel 10): CBS KTXS (channel 12 Cox channel 4): ABC KXVA (channel IS Cox channel 6): Fox Dub Wellborn RaporturNtwi TV Highlights eOUIMi ISNtSBn MeBI nVSNTCn Winfrey Show launched a relationships advice show this year It airs at 3 pun weekdays on KTXS Dr Phil won its timeslot improved significantly on the little-watched sitcom reruns it replaced and beefed up the line-up leading into KTXS' 5 pun local news and World News Tonight with Peter Jennings which scored a rare victory over The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather KTAB General Manager Gayle Kiger quick to remind viewers that his station still has the top-rated evening local newscasts congratulated KTXS Please see NIELSON Page 4E Other highlights from Big Country TV ratings: Fox affiliate KXVA again finished fourth for overall viewers but had strong showings for National Football League broadcasts Reruns of Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond frequently scheduled opposite the news delivered younger viewers that Fox desires CBS affiliate KTAB's 6 and 10 pm newscasts remained the most popular among viewers KTAB benefited from the Big Country's favorite overall primetime lineup (including CSI and Everybody Loves Raymond ABC's primetime lineup was considerably more popular in the Big Country than it was nationwide Top primetime programs by network: ABC Monday Night Football CBS CSI Fox The Simpsons NBC ER PAX Doc UPN Enterprise Source: Nielsen Media Research -Venezuela Strife Continues Web users experience outages By Brian Bethel Reporter-News Staff Writer Customers of Bitstreet Internet found themselves without some Internet services Tuesday because of an outage further up the Internet pipeline The problem stemmed from the Internet Service provider which caused the access problems by making a software change said Dan Hendrickson president and CEO of Bitstreet Local users primarily experienced problems with common Internet services such as surfing the World Wide Web Some but not all had dif ficulty accessing e-mail Hendrickson declined to give how many customers the company serves It is common for Internet Service Providers to buy which may be roughly thought of as user capacity from other companies Bandwidth capacity is like a pipeline: The larger the pipe the more or in the case of an Internet connection data that can flow through it Any error along the bandwidth pipeline can cause problems for end users just like a water main problem Please see WEB Page 4E shaftr net income of $31 million to $54 million exceeding the consensus Estimate of 3 cents per share hy analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call Investors pushed its shares up 64 cent! or 451 percent to dose Tuesday at $21X5 on the New York Stock Exchange The forecast assumes Dynegy will successfully renegotiate $L3 billion in bank agreements due in April and May 'I' From wire reports FammdoUraMHOoMPnM An opponent of President Hugo Chavez rips up a tax payment form Tuesday during a march to the federal tax agency In Caracas Venezuela See story Page 4E I yi i 7iU 1 4.