BUSINESS BRIEFS
VIRGINIA
Va. Treasurer Powell to retire at end of year
Virginia's state treasurer is retiring at the end of the year, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will fill the post with one of his most trusted fiscal advisers.
Treasurer Braxton Powell leaves the post he assumed when Kaine took office in January 2006. He had been deputy state treasurer for six years and worked with the Treasury Department for 25 years.
Manju Ganeriwala, the deputy secretary of finance under Kaine, takes over the treasurer's job of overseeing investments and debt management for the state on Jan. 1.
She is a 23-year state employee who holds a degree in commerce from the University of Bombay in Mumbai, India, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas.
Va. Tech coal research center to direct project
The Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech is directing a $2.4 million project to design a large-scale test of carbon sequestration in a central Appalachian coal seam.
Margaret Radcliffe, the center's assistant director, says the project is an extension of testing under way by the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership.
The partnership is one of seven created by the U.S. Department of Energy to help determine the best ways to capture greenhouse gases to reduce global warming.
Initial tests in Southwest Virginia and west-central Alabama involved injecting 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide into unmineable coal seams. Radcliffe says the larger test would call for injection of at least 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
THE NATION
Report accuses FCC chair of abusing power
WASHINGTON -- In a scathing report released yesterday, congressional investigators outlined a pattern of mismanagement, dysfunction and abuse of power at the Federal Communications Commission under the agency's Republican chairman, Kevin Martin.
The report -- the result of a nearly yearlong, bipartisan investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- accuses Martin of manipulating data and suppressing information to influence telecommunications policy debates at the agency and on Capitol Hill.
The report charges that the commission has become politicized and failed to carry out some important responsibilities under Martin's leadership. It also blames him for undermining an open and transparent regulatory process.
In addition, Martin is accused of micromanaging commission affairs, demoting agency staffers who did not agree with him and withholding information from his fellow commissioners.
A spokesman for Martin said the committee did not find any violations of rules, laws or procedures.
Delta signs card deal with American Express
Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, signed a credit-card accord that boosts cash by $1.05 billion and said it cut $100 million from the cost of meshing operations with newly acquired Northwest Airlines.
Delta will be solidly profitable in 2009 even with an industrywide revenue decline of as much as 12 percent as the recession saps travel demand, President Ed Bastian said yesterday.
The airline gained $1.05 billion from American Express Co.'s advance purchase of frequent-flier miles.
American Express will run co-branded credit cards for the combined carrier and provide $1 billion more in added revenue through 2010.
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