New McDonald’s opens on Kansas Turnpike

The renovation of a former Hardee’s restaurant into a new McDonald’s on the Kansas Turnpike near Lawrence is complete.

Gov. Bill Graves led a delegation of state officials who toured the facility at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. The restaurant, which has seating for about 120 people, has several Internet stations and a television lounge for travelers and truckers who use the turnpike.

Economy

Wholesale prices up

Wholesale prices increased by 1.1 percent in October, the biggest leap in nearly two years, catapulted by higher costs for gasoline, cars and trucks. Industrial production plunged by the largest amount in a year.

The big jump in the Producer Price Index, which measures prices of goods before they reach stores shelves, came after a tiny 0.1 percent rise in September and a flat reading in August, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Separately, production at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities fell by 0.8 percent in October, following a 0.2 percent decline the month before, the Federal Reserve reported. It marked the third straight month that industrial activity declined.

Retailer

Company settles discrimination suit

The successor company to Woolworth’s has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle claims the retailer laid off workers based on age, in a case authorities described as “a wake-up call to corporate America.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Friday over claims Woolworth’s wrongly laid off 678 workers between 1995 and 1997.

The agency said managers targeted workers who were older than 40 in a nationwide cost-cutting move.

Insurance industry Conseco to report loss

Conseco Inc. Friday said it expects to post a delayed $1.8 billion third quarter loss as it continues restructuring talks widely expected to lead to bankruptcy.

The insurance and finance company told the Securities and Exchange Commission in a filing on Friday that it needed more time to account for declines in the value of its assets.

However, the company said it expected to report by Wednesday a loss of about $1.8 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30 ” more than four times the loss of nearly $411 million in the same quarter a year ago, and bigger than the $1.3 billion second-quarter loss Conseco reported in August.