Business news in brief - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Tennessee OKs $10M grant for FedEx

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee panel has approved a $10 million economic development grant to establish the FedEx Logistics headquarters in downtown Memphis.

FedEx Logistics was one of five economic development deals that received the State Funding Board's approval Friday.

State economic development Commissioner Bob Rolfe said FedEx Logistics has committed to invest $44 million and create 689 jobs earning $56 hourly on average. The $10 million state grant will help retrofit its building, the former Gibson Guitar factory.

Other incentives approved Friday include: $1.2 million for trucking company JNJ Express LLC in Memphis, $3 million for Brazilian tile maker Portobello America Inc. in Baxter, $6.5 million for Belgian bus and industrial vehicle manufacturer Van Hool TN Manufacturing LLC in Morristown and $28,000 for Swedish aluminum engineering firm Granges Americas Inc. in Huntingdon.

-- The Associated Press

FDA approves breast-cancer treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first immunotherapy drug for breast cancer.

Swiss drugmaker Roche's Tecentriq was approved Friday for treating advanced triple-negative breast cancer, which accounts for about 15 percent of cases. It's to be given with chemotherapy, the standard treatment.

Mount Sinai breast cancer specialist Dr. Amy Tiersten in New York called it "tremendously exciting news."

Approved for two other cancers, Tecentriq works by boosting the immune system's ability to spot and kill cancer cells.

In a study of 900 women, the benefits were modest. Those who received Tecentriq plus chemotherapy went two months longer on average without their cancer worsening compared with those on chemotherapy alone. The combination caused nerve pain, nausea and other side effects.

Tecentriq costs about $13,400 per month.

-- The Associated Press

Proposal pushed by Amazon advances

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Many of Amazon's Seattle-area employees wouldn't be covered under new labor protections in a bill passed by the state Senate after lobbyists for the tech giant pushed to change a key threshold in the rules. The measure now heads to the state House for consideration.

The protections would partially prohibit noncompete clauses -- controversial agreements used by tech companies and others to block employees from going to work for competitors or launching rival startups.

Lawmakers say Amazon lobbied to have the income threshold set at a level that would likely exempt many workers in Seattle.

The median salary for Amazon employees in Seattle is about $113,000, according to Glassdoor.com, a company that tracks top firms.

-- The Associated Press

U.S. investigates Shkreli behind bars

NEW YORK -- Federal authorities said Friday that they are investigating claims that Martin Shkreli has been running his pharmaceutical company from behind bars using a contraband smartphone.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that it has opened an inquiry into whether the man nicknamed the "Pharma Bro" violated prison rules forbidding inmates from conducting business and possessing cellphones.

Shkreli, 35, is serving a seven-year sentence for securities fraud at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, N.J., a low-security prison complex about 40 miles from Philadelphia. He was found guilty of lying to investors in two failed hedge funds and cheating them out of millions.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Shkreli has used a cellphone to call the shots at his drug company, Phoenixus AG, posting regularly to social media and even firing the company's chief executive a few weeks ago.

-- The Associated Press

Boll weevil program subject of survey

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee officials will poll cotton growers over whether they want to keep paying for a boll weevil eradication program.

Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher announced that cotton producers in the state can vote Monday to March 22 at local U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offices.

The boll weevil program was first implemented in Tennessee in 1994 and let cotton producers join other cotton-producing states in spraying, trapping and monitoring the insects.

The state says Tennessee officially eradicated the boll weevil in 2009, but the program currently monitors boll weevils and aims to prevent their reappearance.

-- The Associated Press

TVA responds to inquiries on contractor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Valley Authority this week defended its relationship with a contractor accused of subverting safety precautions and sickening workers during the cleanup of a coal ash spill.

In a Wednesday letter to two members of Congress from Tennessee, TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson said that to TVA's knowledge, Jacobs Engineering Group "did not have a history of safety lawsuits or test tampering" when it was hired to oversee the cleanup.

Johnson was responding to a February letter from U.S. representatives asking several questions, including what TVA knew about Jacobs' safety record and how the utility responded to worker health complaints.

Jurors in November found that Jacobs' actions were capable of causing the workers' medical problems, ranging from high blood pressure to cancer. According to the lawsuit, more than 40 cleanup workers have died and more than 400 are sick.

Testimony included evidence that Jacobs employees took dust masks away from workers and threatened to fire them. A supervisor also told workers they would have to consume a pound of coal ash per day before it could harm them.

TVA is not a party to the lawsuit, but Johnson's letter addressed concerns that ratepayers may be on the hook for the cost of some or all of the litigation.

-- The Associated Press

Ohio firm says cheese after contest win

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A cheese from Ohio has captured the top spot at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin.

The baby Swiss made by Guggisberg Cheese in Millersburg, Ohio, barely edged out a Gouda made by Marieke Penterman in Thorp, Wis., who won the contest in 2013. Penterman was also the second runner-up with another Gouda.

The winners were announced at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay late Thursday.

The event is considered the largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the country. Organizers say there were 2,555 entries this year, an 11 percent increase compared with 2017, the last year the biennial event was held.

-- The Associated Press

Business on 03/09/2019

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read again Business news in brief - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette : https://ift.tt/2TovlB4

Let's block ads! (Why?)