Business Briefs for Oct. 24

VIRGINIA

Greenbrier deal lures Va., W.Va. patrons

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Residents of West Virginia and Virginia are jumping at the chance to pay bargain prices to stay at The Greenbrier, the West Virginia resort that has entertained presidents and kings.

December dates for the Tribute to the Virginias Package sold out less than 24 hours after the resort announced that it was offering rooms at $59 per night.

Resort spokeswoman Lynn Swann said other dates also are filling up quickly. The dates initially offered were Nov. 15-16, Dec. 18-20, Jan. 8-10 and Feb. 5-7.

Rooms at the four-star resort roughly 5 miles from the Virginia border normally start at around $275.

Jim Justice, the businessman who bought The Greenbrier out of bankruptcy this year, says the promotion is a way to thank residents for supporting the resort.

Auction date set for big tracts in W.Va.

BECKLEY, W.Va. -- A Virginia company will oversee the auction of more than 4,400 acres in West Virginia's New River Gorge, including timber tracts and hunting grounds.

Woltz & Associates of Roanoke has set the auction for Nov. 14 at Tamarack in Beckley.

President Jim Woltz said the land includes more than 10 million board feet of hardwood timber, with tracts ranging from 20 to 797 acres.

Among the parcels to be sold are 1,584 acres in Fayette County near Thurmond, most adjoining the New River Gorge National River.

An additional 583 acres in Raleigh County offer more than 2 million feet of timber, while 475 acres in Greenbrier County offer hunting and hardwood.

THE NATION

Fed prods Congress on financial reform

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke prodded Congress yesterday to enact legislation overhauling the nation's financial regulatory system to prevent a repeat of the banking and credit debacles that thrust the country into crisis.

For its part, the Fed has been taking steps to strengthen oversight of banks and sharpen consumer protections.

On Thursday, it unveiled a sweeping proposal to police banks' pay policies to make sure they don't encourage top executives and other employees to take reckless gambles.

But Congress needs to step in and close regulatory gaps and make other changes that only lawmakers have the power to do, Bernanke said.

Electric-car maker said to pick Delaware

DOVER, Del. -- Fisker Automotive, a California-based startup manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles, plans to build plug-in electric cars at a former General Motors assembly plant in Delaware, sources said yesterday.

Henrik Fisker, the company's co-founder and CEO, said Tuesday that an announcement about the location of a manufacturing facility was in the works. He declined to elaborate but appeared to rule out a California facility where Toyota plans to halt production in March 2010.

Fisker has settled on GM's Boxwood Road facility in Wilmington, sources said yesterday.

Elsewhere

• A House panel is investigating the role of mortgage lenders in the financial crisis and is seeking information from some of the biggest U.S. companies to determine if they used deceptive practices to lure borrowers into the housing boom. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also is issuing a subpoena to Countrywide Financial Corp., now owned by Bank of America Corp., for records related to its so-called "VIP" program, which provided mortgages to several senators and other officials with preferential terms. Documents provided in response to the subpoena will go to the House ethics committee.

• Shares of Dole Food Co. edged below their starting point yesterday after the fruit and vegetable producer's initial public offering priced below what it previously expected. The stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "DOLE," fell 17 cents to $12.33. After the new offering, David H. Murdock will own 59 percent of the company. He took the company private in March 2003 in a transaction valued at $2.5 billion.

Oil prices surged 25 percent in less than a month, dredging up memories of last year's spike, and gas prices could soon eclipse summer highs. Crude is being tugged higher for different reasons this time, rising primarily as the dollar gets weaker. Oil is traded in the dollar, which allows investors holding euros or other strong currencies to buy more as the dollar falls. -- Staff and Wire Reports