3rd Greeley ex-union official pleads guilty to embezzling
A former Greeley meat-workers union official pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of embezzlement.
Stephen L. Bush, former vice president of the now-disbanded Local 990 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International, was indicted in June on charges that he spent $22,514 of union money on Las Vegas hotel rooms, expensive dinners, baseball games and satellite television.
His guilty plea relates to his use of his union credit card to pay for a personal trip to Seattle and a big-screen TV for his home, prosecutors said.
Bush, 29, of Greeley, faces a prison sentence and a fine, plus restitution. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6 in federal court in Denver.
Bush’s father, former union local president Ronald Bush, has pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling $8,000 from the union. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18. Last year, Stephen Bush’s sister, Barbara Ann Hayes, a bookkeeper with Local 990, pleaded guilty to embezzlement.
Frontier: Passenger load a Sept. record
Frontier Airlines said its planes were 71 percent full on average in September, its highest September load factor and an increase from 64.4 percent in the year-ago month.
Frontier’s traffic, or revenue passenger miles, increased 20.9 percent for September 2005 from the same month in 2004, while capacity, or available seat miles, increased 9.6 percent.
Frontier chief executive Jeff Potter said, “Our enthusiasm is tempered by fuel-price increases, which have outpaced traffic growth and fare increases.”
EchoStar confident it will keep Dish clients
Rising energy prices may force consumers to cut back on trips to the movies or eating out, but they likely will keep their satellite television service, Echo Star Communications Corp.’s chief said Thursday.
EchoStar’s satellite TV provider, the Dish Network, may benefit as more consumers look for cheaper services, said Charlie Ergen, EchoStar chairman and chief executive.
Golden Star suspends work at Ghana mine
Golden Star Resources Ltd. announced Thursday it has temporarily suspended mining operations at its Plant-North pit, the source of ore for its Bogoso gold-processing plant in Ghana, to complete various mitigation measures required by the Ghanaian government.
Until mining recommences, which is expected within the next week, the processing facility will continue at full production, fed by stockpiled ore.
DIA briefs developers on parcels for retail
Denver International Airport will host a second meeting to brief interested developers and tenants on retail-development opportunities for parcels on the north side of Peña Boulevard just southeast of the airport Conoco gas station.
Airport officials want to use the project as a model for future development on airport land. The meeting will be at 8 a.m. Oct. 14 at the DIA Partnership office, 3401 Quebec St.
Sept. retail data
yield mixed results
The outlook for the holiday shopping season grew murkier Thursday as September sales results from the nation’s big retailers suggested that consumer anxiety is growing.
Discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had a solid month as Americans struggling with higher gasoline prices and the economic fallout from Hurricane Katrina shopped for basics. But results were disappointing at mall-based apparel stores.
“Shakespeare in Love” producers raise equity
Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who produced Oscar-winning films “Shakespeare in Love” and “The English Patient” for the Walt Disney Co., have raised $230.5 million in equity for their new movie studio.
Weinstein Co. sold shares to 18 investors, according to a regulatory filing this week. The Weinsteins are in negotiations with other investors who may increase the financing to $420 million as early as next week, said people involved in the talks.
Wal-Mart rolls out trendy women’s line
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is launching its own brand of trendy clothing for women as part of an overall strategy to increase U.S. sales by getting more shopping dollars out of the millions of customers already in its stores.
The urban-style line dubbed Metro 7, designed with the help of Wal-Mart’s trend-spotting office in New York City, will be rolled out this week in 500 of the more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in the United States.
Oil, gas prices down with demand flat
Crude oil tumbled to a two- month low and gasoline slid for a sixth session as U.S. fuel imports surged and demand stagnated.
Crude oil for November delivery fell $1.43, or 2.3 percent, to $61.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since Aug. 3.
Gasoline for November delivery plunged 6.73 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $1.8405 a gallon in New York, the lowest close since Sept. 16.
Kerr-McGee plans IPO of Tronox subsidiary
Kerr-McGee Corp. announced Thursday that its wholly owned chemical subsidiary, Tronox Inc., would be separated from the company through an initial public stock offering planned for the fourth quarter of 2005.
Oklahoma City-based Kerr- McGee has been aggressively changing its business portfolio after coming under pressure from shareholders led by billionaire financier Carl Icahn, who charged that the company wasn’t properly managed.
S&P lowers rating for Delphi Corp. further
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lowered Delphi Corp.’s credit rating Thursday, saying it is increasingly concerned that the auto supplier could file for bankruptcy in the next few days.
S&P lowered Delphi’s credit rating two levels deeper into “junk” status, from CCC+ to CCC-, nine ranks below investment grade.
Ex-Disney CEO Eisner gives up seat on board
Michael Eisner, who stepped down as chief executive of the Walt Disney Co. last week, has resigned his seat on the company’s board of directors, the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
SportsHD Productions Inc. of Denver and Chicago-based Sportvision Inc. announced a strategic partnership Thursday. Sportvision, best known for its virtual real-time yellow first-down line in football, will bring graphical enhancement capabilities to SportsHD programming.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers of Greenwood Village will open its first Loveland restaurant this month at 6005 Sky Pond Drive. It will seat 217 and is expected to employ more than 120. Red Robin will also open a restaurant in Plainfield, Ill.
The Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse in downtown Denver was recently highlighted at the 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference in Tokyo. The courthouse, designed by HOK and Anderson Mason Dale Architects, was the only submission by the U.S. team for the Green Building Challenge, an international effort to evaluate and improve the performance of buildings worldwide.
Slifer Smith & Frampton, a real-estate firm in the Vail Valley, received the “Standard of Excellence” award from the Web Marketing Association.
Parry Global Solutions LLC, a Golden-based company specializing in import/export management, international trading and consulting, has relocated to 603 Park Point Drive, Suite 170, in the Genesee Business Park.
7-Eleven will host an open house Wednesday for those interested in franchising 7-Eleven stores in Colorado. 7-Eleven will hold two sessions – 10 a.m. to noon and 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. – at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 10 E. 120th Ave. in Northglenn. For information, call 303-740-9333, ext. 354.
Dream Catcher, a Greenwood Village-based luxury destination club, announced Thursday it is entering the United Kingdom market with the opening of an office in London.
Water Valley in Windsor announced it will extend complimentary Pelican Lakes golf privileges to active U.S. military personnel and veterans from Oct. 11 through Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day.
Dollar Tree Stores Inc., the nation’s largest $1 discount variety store, recently opened a store in the Brookhill Town Centre, 6797 W 88th Ave., Westminster. Dollar Tree will have a grand opening of the 19,965- square-foot store Saturday.
Zynex Medical Holdings Inc., a Littleton-based provider of pain-management systems and electrotherapy products, on Thursday said it secured a $400,000 credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank.
HomeAid Colorado will host its annual silent auction and fashion show Nov. 4. The event raises funds for the organization as well as increases awareness of the area’s homeless.
Toll Brothers announced the opening of three home sites in Bluffmont Greene at RidgeGate, a 3,500-acre master-planned community near Interstate 25 and East Lincoln Ave.
