Industry

Mark Van Reuth, a remodeler for nearly 20 years, has been doing a little preaching in his spare time about the salvation of homes and the revival of the remodeling industry.His message, which has been well-received by homeowners at conferences and home shows, has also been recognized by The Remodelor's Council of the Homebuilders Association of Maryland, which has named him the 1995 Remodeler of the Year for his efforts."I don't think that I like getting up and giving speeches per se," Mr. Van Reuth said , "but the benefit is being able to provide education about the industry."

TULARE, Calif. - To understand how serious the utility crisis has become in California, consider the case of the Land O' Lakes Inc. Western Region factory here, the largest milk processing plant in the United States. Every day, 34 refrigerated tankers make several round trips from 200 dairies across the state to a six-block compound here. These trucks bring in a total of 230 tanker loads, or 11 million to 12 million pounds of milk, every 24 hours, 365 days a year. To keep the production line from dairy to processing plant flowing smoothly, Land O' Lakes runs a tight operation: Tankers come in, unload their milk and go. If a plant were shut down, the milk trucks would be delayed, the dairies' operations would get backed up and their perishable product would have to be dumped.

WASHINGTON - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress yesterday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects ripple across an already-faltering economy. The frantic bid from Detroit for help was laid bare at a packed hearing of the Senate banking committee, in which two of the three automakers said they might run out of money by the end of the year.

For a select few companies in Maryland's growing biotechnology industry, the march to profitability should hasten in the year ahead.But for the lion's share of the 300 Maryland-based companies in this promising and risk-filled industry, the focus will be on advancing laboratory research and human clinical data on the drugs and other cutting-edge medical treatments in development.The tedious process -- and frequent setbacks -- in getting products to market has made biotech companies a test of patience for many investors.

LOS ANGELES - Sure, there will be lots of smiling faces when the 44th annual Grammy Awards are broadcast tonight. There always are. But behind the smiles, a particularly troubling set of circumstances has put the record industry in dire straits on almost every front. The major labels depend on three things to survive: fans' money, the artists' music and the support of the multinational corporations that own them. But the labels suddenly are realizing they can't depend on any of these. For the first time in recent memory, everyone across the board seems cynical about the future of record labels as we know them.

Kirk Kerkorian's frustration with Chrysler Corp.'s lukewarm performance in the stock market this year must seem awfully familiar to the millions of other Americans who own pieces of the Big Three.Despite coming off a year full of record earnings, impressive sales gains and triumphant chest-thumping in Detroit, U.S. automakers' stocks have been in the doldrums this year.There seems to be little the Big Three can do to impress Wall Street. In January, for example, on the day Chrysler reported the biggest profit in its 69-year history, the company's stock responded by falling $1.25, to $51.625, a share.

With the mutual fund industry under heightened congressional scrutiny in 1994 because of unexpected losses from derivatives and scandals over unethical practices among portfolio managers, the industry's trade group, the Investment Company Institute, has elected a politician as its new chairman.Jon S. Fossel, chairman and chief executive of the Oppenheimer Management Corp., was a state assemblyman in New York in the 1970s and two years ago mounted a campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in New York, which he later abandoned, explaining "it dawned on me that I could ruin my life this way."

It's still not an investment for the weak of heart, but the market for thoroughbreds has begun climbing out of a steep slide that only a few years ago plunged farms into bankruptcy and sent race horses to meat-packing houses."

LOS ANGELES -- Even after six years of gradual Pentagon cuts, the Bush administration's plan to slash military spending by canceling or scaling back a number of high-profile arms programs came as a jolt to weapons builders and to thousands of workers from Connecticut to California who are likely to lose pTC their jobs in coming years.Virtually every military contractor faces the loss of some business. The ensuing job losses would affect communities across the country, especially as business cutbacks spread to subcontractors and suppliers.

In the last two months, as the County Commissioners held public meetings and considered various drafts of a proposed 18-month development ban, Citizens for Managed Growth has gathered members and hired a public relations company and attorney.The Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Westminster Development Corp., Realtors, bankers and other members who paid nearly $1,500 to advertise their opposition in a full-page local newspaper last week say they have joined forces to save the building industry from the proposed Interim Development Control Ordinance (IDCO)