Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Skillings new digs a little less opulent

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 12, 2006

The former Enron chief who once resided in a $4.7-million, Mediterranean-style mansion in Houston's toniest neighborhood will spend most of the next quarter-century with three other prison inmates in a converted college dorm room. Jeffrey Skilling, the former chief executive officer of Enron, reports today to the Federal Correctional Institute in Waseca, Minn., to serve his 24-year sentence on fraud and conspiracy charges. While the surroundings will pale in comparison to Skilling's former high-flying lifestyle, former staff and inmates at the prison said there are worse places to land. "For me, it wasn't the worst experience," said the Rev. Chuck Butler, a retired Methodist minister from nearby Rochester. Butler spent three months in the prison in 2000 after several trespassing arrests for protesting on Georgia's Fort Benning Army base.

Something to chew on after big buy

Snickers bar with that circular saw? Life Savers with that laser printer? Mr. Goodbar with that batting glove? An increasing number of the nation's largest retailers are looking to squeeze impulse buys out of customers by offering candy, gum and mints at their cash registers. The nation's largest home-improvement retailer, Home Depot Inc., has just joined those ranks, giving a big boost to the candy industry's efforts to open what it calls "alternative" channels. The Hershey Co., Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and Masterfoods each have sales groups devoted to persuading nontraditional retailers to sell candy. Mostly, they target major retailers: Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc., AutoZone Inc. and Staples Inc., to name a few, carry candy bars and more. The type of candy being carried might vary - for instance, more high-end candy in a clothing store where women shop.

Nissan commits to fuel cell vehicles

Nissan Motor Co. announced plans Monday to launch a next-generation fuel cell vehicle in the early 2010s in Japan and North America as part of its midterm environmental strategy. The company aims to introduce a new fuel cell vehicle using an improved fuel stack, developed in-house, after 2010 that will offer performance on par with gasoline-power automobiles, Nissan chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga Shiga said. Fuel cell vehicles run on the power produced when oxygen in the air combines with hydrogen stored in the fuel tank, producing only harmless water vapor.

[Last modified December 12, 2006, 00:24:57]