Briefs

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), May 30, 2002

Expo will showcase products, services

More than 280 businesses will showcase products and services today at Zing Into Spring, the 18th Annual Business to Business Expo sponsored by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.

The expo will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Colorado Springs World Arena, 3185 Venetucci Blvd. Admission is $2.

Space Command general will speak

The Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce invited Lt. Gen. Ed Anderson, deputy commander in chief of U.S. Space Command, to speak about homeland defense and other issues facing today's military.

Anderson will speak at a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Wyndham Hotel, 5580 Tech Center Drive. Cost is $25.

Reservations can be made by calling 575-4388 by May 31.

Nortel will slash another 3,500 jobs

NEW YORK - Nortel Networks Corp., the Canadian maker of telecommunications equipment, said Wednesday it will cut another 3,500 jobs, more than expected, and may sell its optical-components business as it revamps its operations to save money.

Nortel now expects its work force to bottom out at 42,000. Last month, Nortel put the figure at 44,000. The Brampton, Ontario, company cut about 50,000 jobs since the beginning of last year and employed 47,000 people at the end of the first quarter.

Nortel said it plans to streamline the optical long-haul business because it doesn't expect a "meaningful" recovery in that market before late 2003 or early 2004.

CMS Energy will sell oil, gas exploration unit

DEARBORN, Mich. - Only days after its chief executive resigned in the wake of questionable power trades, CMS Energy Corp. said Wednesday it plans to sell its oil and gas exploration and production unit.

The huge gas and electricity company said it expects to conduct a competitive auction process for its CMS Oil and Gas Co. unit but provided no estimate of how much it might get for the business.

The sale will mean CMS Energy is leaving the exploration and production business as questions reverberate about energy trading practices at CMS and other energy trading companies in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corp.

Frontier withdraws Hotwire.com complaint

DENVER - Frontier Airlines on Wednesday withdrew a complaint against Hotwire.com after the Internet travel agency agreed to remove Frontier's name from its ad campaign.

Denver-based Frontier sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation saying Hotwire's ads were deceptive and depicted Frontier as untrustworthy.

In one, a man using Travelocity.com finds a round-trip flight to Dallas on Frontier for $575, compared with $229 from Hotwire on an unnamed larger carrier.

After the Hotwire announcer gives the Frontier fare, he says, "You wanna fly on a major carrier?" The customer replies: "Yeah, I would. That would make me feel a lot more comfortable, man."

Sara Lee settles racial claims by black workers PHILADELPHIA - Sara Lee Foods Corp. agreed to pay $3.5 million to 139 black employees who complained of racial harassment and retaliation at a hot-dog plant that closed last year.

The former employees at the Philadelphia-based Ball Park Franks plant charged they were subjected to racial slurs and racist cartoons and graffiti; denied promotions; given extra work; and forced to undergo frequent drug testing.

- Gazette and news services