Windstream on Green Bay Packers team
Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock has been selected to provide service to the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.
Green Bay is the second NFL franchise to be under contract with Windstream, which provides network Internet and telephone services for homes and businesses. The Packers will use Windstream's "On-Net" gigabit Ethernet fiber connection to Lambeau Field and the franchise's business and telemarketing offices.
Kenny Ansel, Packers assistant director of information technology, said in a news release that Windstream would provide "highly reliable" service for its business operations, plus "highly reliable internet connectivity to our employees and fans at the most historic stadium in the National Football League."
"When we teamed with the Green Bay Packers, we immediately understood the vital role that network uptime played for the franchise," Joe Harding, executive vice president and enterprise chief marketing officer at Windstream said in a news release. "The Packers' requirements were unique, and they needed a solution that combined highly reliable services with scalable and flexible infrastructure."
Windstream also works with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.
Pending regulatory approval Windstream is set to purchase Atlanta-based EarthLink Holdings Corp. in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.
-- Chris Bahn
Jewish trust in U.S. sues Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG was sued in Florida by a Jewish charitable trust that claims the firm wrongly withheld as much as $3 billion from the heirs of a wealthy German family.
The lawsuit claims the bank refuses to return the funds initially deposited by the Wertheim family in accounts opened at what is now Credit Suisse Group AG before the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Those accounts were later transferred to Deutsche Bank, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in federal court by Wertheim Jewish Education Trust LLC.
Deutsche Bank has "refused to cooperate with the heirs of the Wertheim family fortune in the recovery and return of the monies that they are withholding from the rightful heirs," and preventing the use of the funds for charitable and other purposes, according to the complaint filed in Fort Lauderdale.
Deutsche Bank is "taking the matter very seriously," said spokesman Tim-Oliver Ambrosius. "The accusations are completely unfounded, and Deutsche Bank denies them," he said. "All proceedings initiated against Deutsche Bank in this matter have been decided in favor of Deutsche Bank."
The charitable trust is an heir to the descendants of Joseph Wertheim, a family that amassed a fortune by building the KaDeWe department store in Berlin and a textile and manufacturing empire in Frankfurt, Germany, according to the complaint.
-- Bloomberg News
30-year mortgage rate drops to 4.09%
WASHINGTON -- Long-term US mortgage rates marked their third week of declines this week, after snapping a nine-week run of increases.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans fell to an average 4.09 percent from 4.12 percent last week. That was still higher than a 30-year rate that averaged 3.65 percent for all of 2016, the lowest level recorded from records going back to 1971. A year ago, the benchmark rate stood at 3.81 percent.
The average for a 15-year mortgage declined to 3.34 percent from 3.37 percent last week.
Mortgage rates surged in the weeks since the election of Donald Trump in early November. Investors in Treasury bonds bid yield rates higher because they believe the president-elect's plans for tax cuts and higher spending on roads, bridges and airports will drive up economic growth and inflation.
That would depress prices of long-term Treasury bonds because inflation would erode their value over time, a prospect that caused investors to demand higher yields.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was unchanged this week at 0.5 point. The fee on 15-year loans also remained at 0.5 point.
-- The Associated Press
Consumer optimism barometer surges
American consumers this month were the most upbeat about the economy than at any time in almost 15 years, according to Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index figures released Thursday.
According to the report, the monthly consumer expectations index climbed to 56 in January, the strongest reading since March 2002, from 53.5. The weekly consumer comfort measure was little changed at 45.2 after 45.1.
The jump in optimism, on the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration as president, is consistent with other measures showing improved sentiment as a new administration and Congress consider lower taxes and looser regulation. Some 36 percent of those surveyed said the economy was getting better, with big gains over the past four months among Republicans, political independents, full-time workers and those living in the South and West. While confidence has increased, households need to follow through by spending more to have any positive economic impact.
Of the respondents, 23 percent say the economy is getting worse, the smallest share since January 2011 and down from 35 percent who said so in November.
-- Bloomberg News
N.D. landowners sue pipeline developer
BISMARCK, N.D. -- A group of about two dozen North Dakota landowners is suing the developer of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, accusing it of deceit and fraud in acquiring land easements.
Already, landowners in Iowa await a state judge's ruling in another easement case regarding the $3.8 billion, four-state pipeline. Other court battles are playing out in federal court in North Dakota and Washington, D.C.
The Morton County landowners in the lawsuit, filed this month in U.S. District Court, are seeking more than $4 million in damages from Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. The parent company contends the allegations "are without merit," company spokesman Vicki Granado said.
The landowners who are suing represent only about 3 percent of the 800 North Dakota landowners who provided easements to Dakota Access, according to Granado.
Those suing say Dakota Access engaged in unfair tactics and fraud while negotiating to lay pipeline on private land, resulting in compensation that was as much as nine times lower than what other landowners got. Landowners also allege they were told that if they didn't agree to the offered amount, they faced losing money or getting nothing either because their land would be condemned through eminent domain or the pipeline would be moved elsewhere.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 01/20/2017