Butterball expanding Huntsville facility
Butterball is expanding its frozen storage facility in Huntsville, creating 16 jobs, the turkey processor said Friday.
The 40,000-square-foot expansion will employ four new plant managers and 12 operators, a Butterball spokesman said in an email. Expansion began in October.
About 650 people work at the turkey plant at 1294 N. College St. It's been operational since 1974, plant manager Bill Folk said.
After multiple weather delays, the $14 million expansion has a mid-August completion date, the Madison County Record reported.
-- Nathan Owens
Aluminum smelter to open in SE Missouri
MARSTON, Mo. -- A new aluminum smelter will open in the Missouri boot heel region in May, replacing roughly half of the jobs lost when another smelter shut down two years ago.
Magnitude 7 Metals plans to hire 450 people for its plant in the former Noranda Aluminum smelter in New Madrid County, near the town of Marston, about 150 miles south of St. Louis. Chief Executive Officer Bob Prusak said 140 people have already been hired. One line of the plant will open in May, and the second in November.
Republican Gov. Eric Greitens said Friday that the plant provides an opportunity for the economically troubled region to turn around its fortunes.
"The people of southeast Missouri are proud," Greitens said during a news conference at the site. "The people of southeast Missouri are ready to work. The people of southeast Missouri are ready to stand up and fight for their families."
Friday's appearance was publicized, but the governor took no questions from the media. He was warmly received by the crowd of several hundred people.
About 900 jobs were lost when Noranda shut down in March 2016, a huge blow to New Madrid County, where 24 percent of residents live below the poverty line. Statewide, Missouri's poverty rate was 14.8 percent in 2015, according to census data.
Several speakers lauded President Donald Trump's policies, including steep tariffs on imported aluminum and steel that Trump signed off on Thursday.
-- The Associated Press
California bullet-train cost soars to $77B
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The projected cost of California's bullet train between San Francisco and Los Angeles has jumped to $77 billion and the opening date has been pushed back four years to 2033, according to a business plan released Friday.
The plan by the California High-Speed Rail Authority presents the latest setbacks for a project that's been beleaguered by delays and cost overruns since voters first gave it the green light in 2008.
Among the challenges in the latest plan: a lack of money and the difficulty of weaving through mountain passes between Silicon Valley and the inland Central Valley, which rail executives hope to complete by 2029.
Doing so will require a fresh infusion of cash from the Legislature or the private sector, said Brian Kelly, the project's new chief executive. If completed, it would be the nation's fastest train, carrying people between the two major cities in less than three hours.
While $77 billion is the baseline cost estimate, the plan estimates total costs could be as low as $63.2 billion or as high as $98.1 billion.
It brought fresh fire from critics who doubt the high-speed train will ever be built. The last plan, presented in 2016, estimated the project would cost $64 billion and be open by 2029.
"You cannot build a mega-project of this magnitude on a pay-as-you-go basis," he told reporters Friday.
-- The Associated Press
Cage-free egg trend hits snag in Iowa
Companies from McDonald's to Walmart have recently flocked to cage-free eggs, fueling a national sales boom for a product many believe is more humane.
But in Iowa, the country's largest egg-producing state, there are fears that the trend has gone too far. And this week, lawmakers there passed an unusual bill that would require many stores to stock eggs from caged chickens -- a move designed to stop retailers from phasing them out.
Although the law would apply only to stores' Iowa locations, it's intended to address a growing national dilemma. The country's largest grocery chains have committed to cage-free eggs, sending shock waves through the industry -- but consumers aren't buying like they were expected.
The new legislation would not literally force stores to sell conventional eggs -- though people involved in drafting the bill say it could eventually have that effect. As written, the legislation requires that stores carry conventional eggs if they participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC.
Supporters of the bill argue that animal-welfare groups have shamed grocery stores into offering a product consumers don't want. Those groups, meanwhile, have accused lawmakers of shilling for Iowa's agribusiness interests.
-- The Washington Post
Record spending seen for shale-oil field
Bad news for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries: The epicenter of the shale boom is headed for record spending this year.
The Permian Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the nation's busiest oil field, claims nearly $2 out of every $10 spent on oil-field services and equipment around the globe, according to Tulsa consulting firm Spears & Associates.
Spending in the dusty terrain -- an area larger than Florida -- is expected to climb 50 percent this year from the boom times of 2014 to a record $45 billion, Richard Spears, vice president at Spears & Associates, wrote Friday in a note to investors.
"The oil is a half day's drive from the global headquarters of most oil companies, sits smack in the middle of the world's largest consuming nation, the natives are friendly, and the government's 'take' is light," Spears wrote. "We are confident that the Permian will grow from here."
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 03/10/2018