KAREN SMITH WELCH

13 - 8:53am

Sage Oil Vac will provide designs for equipment to Texima

AMARILLO — An alliance between two Amarillo businesses has pried open Brazilian markets where tariffs greatly inflate the costs of foreign imports, local representatives said. Amarillo lube equipment manufacturer Sage Oil Vac formed Sage Oil Vac Brazil with Texima, which is based in Sao Paulo. Sage Oil Vac will provide designs for its equipment — used for in-the-field maintenance of heavy machinery such as that used in construction and energy production — to Texima, which will manufacture it under the Sage Oil Vac Brazil brand, Sage said.

Amarillo nonprofit focuses on fair trade 04/02/13 - 7:48am

Chalice Abbey Fair Trade Emporium to open this month

A new nonprofit hopes to redefine purchasing power in Amarillo, tying it to efforts to alleviate poverty worldwide. The Chalice Abbey Fair Trade Emporium, set to open this month at 2717 Stanley St., will sell only fair-trade goods. “The choices we make as consumers can impact the world in positive ways,” said the Rev. Paul Carruth, Chalice Abbey executive director and an associate area minister for Hi-Plains Area of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Amarillo firm oversees $500M plant in Mitchell County for electricity 03/31/13 - 7:44am

An Amarillo firm is directing the commercial and financial development of a $500 million plant in Mitchell County to generate electricity from natural gas. Protos Energy Advisory will partner with FGE Texas in construction of a 726-megawatt station near Westbrook, east of Big Spring, said Ross McCausland, president and CEO of Protos.

TxDOT mulls changes to Soncy ramps 03/20/13 - 8:21am

Segment of Soncy from I-40 south to Westgate Parkway carries 30K vehicles a day

AMARILLO — A proposed $2.9-million construction project next year could help reduce some of Amarillo’s more persistent commuter bottlenecks and ease traffic that’s only projected to increase. The Texas Department of Transportation intends to modify Interstate 40 between Coulter Street and Soncy Road to improve safety and reduce frontage-road congestion at those intersections, officials said.

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Hastings reports $1.2M in Q4 earnings as it competes with rental kiosks, digital services 03/18/13 - 2:24pm

Amarillo-based retailer to close 8 stores by August

Consumers’ growing taste for entertainment delivered digitally, from kiosks and by subscription continued to gnaw at Hastings Entertainment in the fourth quarter of its 2012 fiscal year.

Hastings cuts 14 jobs in reorganization 02/23/13 - 8:51am

Marmaduke remains chairman and CEO

A new leader will run day-to-day operations at Hastings Entertainment, a change the company made the day it also dismissed 14 mid-level to executive employees. Chairman and CEO John Marmaduke resigned his post as chief operating officer to make way for the promotion of Alan Van Ongevalle to that position, according to a report filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Marmaduke remains chairman and CEO, the filing said.

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United Supermarkets to build new Amigos store in Hereford 02/20/13 - 5:49pm

Hereford Economic Development Corp. gave the company a $200,000 incentive package

United Supermarkets will build one of its Hispanic-branded Amigos stores in Hereford, with the help of a $200,000 incentive package from the Hereford Economic Development Corp. The Lubbock grocery company announced the purchase of 5.2 acres at 520 N. 25-Mile Ave. — also known as U.S. Highway 385 — near the intersection of West 15th Street.

Amarillo financial firms bank on Lubbock 02/17/13 - 10:24am

Amarillo’s largest banks have bitten into a Lubbock market in which mergers gobbled up two of the top three banks in 2012. “Two big players in the Lubbock market are going through some transitions,” said Chris Williston, president and CEO of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas. “That has turned some of their customer relationships on their ears. ... A lot of the customers are fleeing to other banks, and I think it’s an opportunity.” Community banks in Lubbock have reported increased new-deposit and loan activity since the mergers, Williston said.

Sanitation company wants to retain laid-off Plainview employees 02/12/13 - 6:10pm

Packers Sanitation Services Inc. laid off 125 employees, but 20 have been transferred to Friona

Twenty of 125 laid off sanitation workers in Plainview have been transferred to work in Friona and more have expressed interest in relocation, a company representative said today. Packers Sanitation Services Inc. laid off 125 employees in Plainview on Feb. 1 because the Cargill beef-processing plant PSSI was contracted to clean there also shut down. Cargill ceased operations at its Plainview plant on Feb. 1, putting nearly 2000 people out of work. The beef-packer blamed a dwindling cattle supply.

'Healing is possible': Columbia remembrance ceremony ponders NASA's past, future 02/02/13 - 10:05am

Reflection played a central role Friday in NASA’s ceremony honoring a space shuttle Columbia crew. Beneath the glassy granite surface of Kennedy Space Center’s Space Mirror Memorial, NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana vowed a daily commitment to “reflect on what we can do better and how we can move on and move forward” from the Columbia disaster. The tragedy claimed the lives of seven astronauts on the Columbia STS-107 mission, including Amarillo native Rick Husband and William C. “Willie” McCool, who grew up in Lubbock.