Berry wins state grant

Lawrence’s Berry Plastics Corp. has received a $22,202 Kansas Industrial Retraining grant from the The Kansas Department of Commerce.

The money will be used to train 59 existing employees in new technology and equipment the company recently received. Berry, located at 2330 Packer Road, will match the grant with $22,202.

Joel Plaas, plant manager, said the company applied for the grant after gaining a new client that requires Berry employees to operate new packaging technology. Plaas said he couldn’t identify the client.

He said the work would not add jobs at the plant, which has about 400 workers.

Economic Development

Ottawa manufacturer to create 13 new jobs

An Ottawa company will receive a nearly $500,000 boost from a state economic development fund to create new jobs.

The Kansas Department of Commerce has given an economic development grant of $455,000 to the city of Ottawa.

Ottawa will use the funds to provide an equipment and working capital loan to Fashion Inc., a manufacturer of metal canopies and architectural roofing systems. The project is expected to create 13 jobs within a two-year period.

The Small Cities Community Development Block Grant will be matched with $500,000 of private financing.

Wall Street

Markets end week up

A welcome slide in oil prices set off a relief rally on Wall Street Friday, with stocks posting a healthy advance as crude approached but then fell back from the $50 a barrel mark. The major indexes all ended the week higher.

Stock investors seemed to regain some confidence as crude retreated from a record intraday high of $49.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and closed down 84 cents at $47.86. Wall Street has struggled the past few weeks with fears that skyrocketing oil prices could spur inflation, raise consumer prices and put a large dent in third-quarter earnings reports.

For the week, the Dow was up 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 rose 3.2 percent, and the Nasdaq jumped 4.6 percent.

Bankruptcy

Judge doesn’t block United pension proposal

A bankruptcy judge refused to block United Airlines’ interim financing plan Friday, rejecting union arguments that United didn’t try hard enough to come up with an alternative that would continue company contributions to employee pension funds.

The hearing came a day after the release of court papers in which United warned it likely would have to terminate those pension funds in order to secure the loans it needed to get out of bankruptcy.

Such a default by the nation’s second largest airline would affect about 119,000 employees and retirees and be the largest ever by a U.S. company.

Retail

Kmart sale to cost jobs

Kmart Holding Corp.’s sale of 13 stores to The Home Depot Inc. could cost up to 1,200 Kmart employees their jobs in coming months.

Under an agreement announced in June, Kmart will sell no fewer than 13 stores for $173 million in cash and up to 19 stores for $288.5 million. Nine of the stores already have been sold.

The Kmart employees being laid off will receive no severance pay, company spokesman Steve Pagnani told the Detroit Free Press.