Sunflower Broadband buys Piper cable system

Lawrence-based Sunflower Broadband announced Friday that it has purchased the cable system in Piper from Charter Communications. The cable system serves western Wyandotte County. The change in ownership became effective Friday.

Sunflower Broadband has begun work on the Piper cable system so that advanced broadband services, including high-speed Internet service and high-definition television content, will be available to Piper residents. The upgrade is expected to be completed by June.

“We are looking forward to becoming an active part of the Piper community,” said Patrick Knorr, Sunflower Broadband general manager.

Sunflower Broadband provides services to residential and business customers in Lawrence, Eudora, Tonganoxie, Basehor and Linwood. Telephone services also are available to customers in Lawrence. Sunflower Broadband is owned by The World Company, which also owns the Journal-World.

Accounting

Ernst & Young receives six-month suspension

Ernst & Young was suspended from accepting new corporate clients for six months under a ruling Friday sought by federal regulators who allege the accounting firm did not remain completely independent from a company whose books it audited.

The administrative law judge at the Securities and Exchange Commission also ordered Ernst & Young, the nation’s third-largest accounting firm, to pay $1.7 million in restitution, plus interest.

The case centers around allegations that Ernst & Young did business with PeopleSoft Inc., which was a company that it audited.

New York-based Ernst & Young, which has disputed the SEC’s allegations and called its case “irresponsible,” has the right to appeal the ruling to the five SEC commissioners.

Nation

Housing starts increase

Housing construction rebounded in March, rising by 6.4 percent, the largest increase in 10 months.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that the number of residential projects that builders started last month clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2 million units, representing a 6.4 percent rise from the previous month.

Above, Juan Jose Santana, an employee of Gary Day Construction, worked on the roof of a new home Friday in Las Vegas.

In another report, production at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities dipped by 0.2 percent in March, after two months of strong increases, the Federal Reserve said.

Wall Street

IBM earnings increase

Rebounding technology spending by big companies boosted first-quarter profits 16 percent at IBM Corp., though much of Big Blue’s revenue gains came from weakness in the dollar.

IBM matched Wall Street profit forecasts Thursday by reporting that it earned $1.60 billion, or 93 cents per share, in the first three months of the year. In the comparable period last year, IBM made $1.38 billion, or 79 cents a share.