New networks added to HD and digital cable packages
The Conway Corporation Cable Television Programming Advisory Committee approved the addition of NFL Network to its standard and high-definition cable packages at its April 30 meeting. The network will be added on Aug. 1. In addition, Chiller, Oxygen and Bloomberg networks will be added to the system's digital offerings on July 1. Golf Channel will move from the standard to digital cable package.
Three additional networks USA, Sci-Fi and CNBC will be added to the high-definition lineup on June 1.
Cable rates will not be affected by the new networks.
With the addition of these networks Conway Corporation will also have additional programming available On Demand from NFL Network and NBC Universal including Olympics On Demand coverage and programs on demand from its cable networks. Bloomberg will also offer On Demand content. On Demand is available on channel 200 and is a part of Conway Corporation's digital cable package.
For more information about digital or high-definition cable from Conway Corporation, call 450-6000.
Fed joins with
European banks to battle credit crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserve announced Friday that it will expand a series of efforts to deal with the global credit crisis, in coordination with European central banks.
The Fed said it was boosting the amount of emergency reserves it supplies to U.S. banks to $150 billion in May, from the $100 billion it supplied in April. The Fed took this action and several other moves to boost credit in coordination with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The latest moves are part of a series of actions the Fed has made since the credit crisis struck in August.
The efforts are designed to increase reserves so that banks don't become hesitant about lending to consumers and businesses, which would make the current economic slowdown even more severe.
Stocks give up gains from employment
report to finish mixed
NEW YORK (AP) Wall Street turned in a mixed performance Friday as investors set aside some initial enthusiasm over a stronger-than-expected jobs report to lock in some of their recent gains. Blue chip stocks logged their third weekly advance in a row as investors grew more confident about the economy's ability to outrun a deep downturn.
The reports on employment and the pace of orders at factories offered the market fresh evidence that the economy might not be in as worrisome a state as many had feared. But a surprise quarterly loss from Sun Microsystems Inc. weighed on the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index.
Still, buyers outnumbered sellers after a government report showed the nation's employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month, stirring optimism about the buoyancy of the economy.
The employment report Friday came at the end of a critical week for Wall Street. While corporate results dominated in previous weeks, investors focused this week on the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to lower interest rates and on reports on the nation's gross domestic product, personal spending and factory orders.
Pushed by higher prices, immigrants stocking up on rice
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) Shoppers surveyed shelves loaded with rice at the Ranch 99 Asian supermarket, chatting in languages from Mandarin to Portuguese as they hunted for their favorite varieties, checked brand names and compared prices before heaving 50-pound bags into their carts.
Skyrocketing prices and media reports of a shortage are driving many immigrants and U.S. Asians, Hispanics, Indians and others to stock up on rice a once inexpensive staple that is reaching record-high prices across the country. In Indian corner markets and warehouse-sized supermarkets specializing in Asian goods, customers who usually take home a 20-pound bag are taking two, or even reaching for the 50-pound bag.
Emphasizing that there is no rice shortage in the United States, economists and commodity traders blame the price hikes confronting U.S. consumers on everything from the weather in producing countries to the increased buying power of countries like China. Chief among those factors was the decision by India, Vietnam, China, Egypt, Cambodia and Brazil to curtail exports to protect prices at home, said Nathan Childs, an economist and rice expert with the Department of Agriculture.
