York

Johnson Controls Inc., the world's largest vehicle-seat maker, agreed to buy York International Corp. for $2.4 billion, expanding its building-related business and reducing its reliance on carmakers that are cutting production. York stockholders will get $56.50 a share in cash, Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls said in a statement yesterday. That's a premium of 35 percent to York's closing price of $41.75. Johnson Controls said it also will assume $800 million of York debt. Johnson Controls said it's adding about $5 billion in annual sales from York, the third-largest U.S. maker of heaters and air conditioners.

Thirteen people from the York, Pa. area, including 11 students from York Suburban High School, suffered minor injuries yesterday morning when a bus carrying 37 passengers overturned on Interstate 83 in northern Baltimore County, Maryland State Police said. The bus, which was returning from a sporting event at Goucher College in Towson, overturned on northbound I-83 between Mount Carmel and Middletown roads about 11 a.m., police said. The driver, Charles R. Spiker, 69, of Manchester, Pa., was moving into the left lane to pass a car when the bus sideswiped a second car, a Nissan Sentra, in the left lane, police said.

Maureen Carr York was named to the county school board just a day before the panel will choose its new chairman and make final adjustments to its $341.4 million budget.York was appointed by Gov. WilliamDonald Schaefer yesterday, along with the board's new student member, Miecha Werwie of Southern High School.After snubbing the recommendation of the county's School Board Nominating Convention last year, Schaefer selected the 37-year-old York, the current convention's choice to succeed Patricia Huecker.

Citing personal reasons, former Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles is stepping down as manager of the York (Pa.) Revolution, a position he has held since before the club's inaugural 2007 season, team officials announced Wednesday. Hoiles, a member of the Orioles Hall of Fame who played in Baltimore from 1989 to 1998, guided York to the independent Atlantic League playoffs last season. "This is one of the toughest decisions I've had to make," Hoiles said in a statement. "I have appreciated the opportunity to join the York community and assist in building the Revolution from the ground up. My family has grown very fond of York and of Revolution fans who supported us during our three seasons here.

NEW YORK -- He had never felt this way. Not as a kid representing Canada in the pressure-filled Little League World Series. Not in his first professional start. Not even when he faced the powerful U.S. team in the World Baseball Classic. Adam Loewen's hands shook, making it impossible to grip the baseball. That explained the errant fastball that hit Adrian Beltre in the helmet. His legs felt numb, his 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame wobbly. Orioles @Yankees Tonight, 7:05, Ch. 13, MASN, 105.7 FM Starters: Adam Loewen (6-6, 5.37 in 2006)

NEW YORK -- "Toujours la politesse."There's a sign in the window of a papaya-juice shop at 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue with that message on it. And more:"We are Polite New YorkersBravo Mr. Mayor. We supportyour fight for a nicer New York."Then, in smaller type:"PLEASE don't Expectorateon sidewalk"And in even more minute letters:"(Heh Heh)"It is the (Heh Heh) that seizes the attention. It suggests a variety of responses to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's current campaign to turn the Big Apple into the Big Pineapple, this latter fruit being the symbol of hospitality and the grace and politeness that attend it.Is the proprietor of the shop mocking the mayor's efforts to calm the rage of rudeness that since time immemorial has possessed all Manhattanites?

NEW YORK -- Thousands took to the streets yesterday, chanting angrily, halting traffic and seeking the justice they felt had been denied a day earlier, when a jury exonerated four white police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. "It's outrageous. It's outrageous they didn't even get negligent homicide. It's outrageous that the police are so racist," said Cindi Katz, a City University of New York professor who joined the largest of several public protests organized to decry the verdicts in the death of Amadou Diallo.

YORK, Pa. -- York International Corp., the world's largest industrial-refrigeration company, said yesterday that it will shut three European plants and cut 1,200 jobs, and it warned that third-quarter earnings will fall short of estimates because of weaker sales in Latin America and the integration of an acquisition.York said it will earn 65 cents to 70 cents a share in the third quarter. It was expected to earn 95 cents, the average estimate of three analysts surveyed by First Call.Fourth-quarter earnings will also be below forecasts, the company said.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Billy Crystal live trumped Robin Williams on tape. Given that many U.S. Olympic Committee voters likely made up their minds based on yesterday's presentations, Crystal's appearance before the USOC board of directors epitomized the star-studded show New York used to beat San Francisco in the contest to become U.S. bid city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. New York's production trumped San Francisco's in every way, including the appearance of Donald Trump himself in an ingenious film created to show its Olympic bid was supported by everyone from real estate tycoons to taxi drivers.

DETROIT -- Jerome York, a former Chrysler Corp. engineer, said he was derided as "the car guy" when he was helping Lou Gerstner cut $7 billion in costs to turn around International Business Machines Corp. in the mid-1990s. Now, after financial-repair jobs at computer makers IBM and Apple Computer Inc. and at fire-safety and valve conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., York is back in Detroit for what may be his biggest fix-it role: General Motors Corp. As he joins the troubled automaker's board, York, an adviser to Kirk Kerkorian, GM's fourth-largest shareholder, is prescribing what he says worked at IBM and Chrysler.