In brief: Clearwater plans N.C. tissue plant
Clearwater Paper Corp. will build a new tissue paper plant in Shelby, N.C., that state’s governor, Bev Perdue, announced Thursday.
Spokane-based Clearwater will invest at least $260 million in the plant and equipment, which will produce 10 million cases of tissue annually. Company facilities now produce 30 million cases, spokesman Matt Van Vleet said.
The 650,000-square-foot Shelby plant will employ 250, he said.
North Carolina and local jurisdictions will contribute $50 million in incentives to the project over the next 12 years.
Breach of iPad e-mail security investigated
NEW YORK – The FBI said Thursday that it is investigating a data breach at AT&T that exposed the e-mail addresses of more than 114,000 owners of the Apple iPad, including government officials.
The agency said it is looking into “the potential cyber threat” from the breach.
AT&T Inc. said it has no comment. The company acknowledged Wednesday that it had exposed the e-mail addresses through a webstite, and had closed the breach.
The vulnerability only affected iPad users who signed up for AT&T’s “3G” wireless Internet service.
An AT&T website could be tricked into revealing an iPad owner’s e-mail address when supplied with a code associated with their particular iPad. A hacker group that calls itself Goatse Security said it got more than 114,000 e-mail addresses by guessing which codes would be valid.
Recovery slogging along, reports say
WASHINGTON – The picture of a steady but still sluggish recovery emerged from reports Thursday that showed fewer people are claiming unemployment aid while U.S. exports are slowing.
The reports echo Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s suggestion this week that the rebound will remain intact despite high unemployment, a fragile housing market and Europe’s debt crisis. But it will take time to create enough jobs to bring down the 9.7 percent unemployment rate.
Initial unemployment claims fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 456,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the third straight drop.
Briefcase
•Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week to an average of 4.72 percent, the lowest level of the year and barely shy of the all-time low. The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 4.17 percent, the lowest on records dating back to August 1991.
•For more than two decades, pork has been known as “The Other White Meat.” Now industry insiders think it’s time the meat got a new reputation. The National Pork Board plans to replace its ubiquitous advertising slogan with something officials hope will improve stagnant sales. The slogan, first launched 23 years ago, was successful in rebranding the meat as a dinnertime favorite.
• China’s exports surged by nearly 50 percent in May but analysts warned Europe’s debt crisis is likely to hurt the recovery in trade.
• Homebuyers may get an extra three months to finish qualifying for federal tax incentives that boosted home sales this spring. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday he wants to give buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases and qualify for tax credits of up to $8,000. Under the current terms, buyers had until April 30 to get a signed sales contract and until June 30 to complete the sale.
• General Motors Co., not the government, will determine when the automaker will conduct a public stock offering at the heart of the company’s revival, the Obama administration said Thursday. The Treasury Department said in a statement that it expects to sell some of its 61 percent stake in GM when the automaker goes public. The initial public offering could happen as early as October.