Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Fri, Aug 7 1992 Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 04:31:46 EDT Message-ID: 08-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Aug. 7-9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network IBM APPEALS MAXXAM DEAL: IBM Credit Corp. has appealed the preliminary approval of an agreement letting an investors' group buy a controlling interest in Continental Airlines. Continental's System One owes IBM Credit $80 million. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has approved a deal that would give Maxxam Inc. and two investment banking firms 72% ownership of Continental after it emerges from Chapter 11. HOUSE PLANS SECURITIES REFORM: The House Banking Committee approved a bill Thursday to reform the $2.3 trillion government securities market, a response to abuses that resulted after the Salomon Brothers trading scandal last year. The committee added an amendment to preserve bank regulators' authority over some aspects of the market - critical to help the government finance operations and the national debt. CITY FUNDING VOTE DELAYED: A Senate vote on a potential $1 billion plan to bolster fledgling, non-profit lending institutions in America's inner cities and poor rural areas was delayed Thursday until next week. Staffers to Sens. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., sponsors of the bill, blamed negotiations on unrelated portions of an omnibus tax bill for the delay. SENATE SHOULD VOTE NEXT WEEK: The Senate proposal would amend an existing Senate tax bill in a move that advocates say could offer the most substantial aid yet to beleaguered U.S. cities and poor rural areas. The urban aid vote will likely reach the Senate floor next week. Proponents say the plan would fund non-profit lenders in areas where commercial banks have stopped most lending and would generate capital and jobs. MID-INCOME MORTGAGES PLANNED: Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., introduced legislation Thursday to help more moderate-income people participate in a federal mortgage program. The bill would amend the U.S. tax code so that Westchester County's average home price could be used as the maximum purchase price when residents apply for mortgages under the Mortgage Revenue Bond program. No action is likely before September. USA OWES HOUSING TO NATIVES: The $15 billion needed to raise Native American housing to minimum levels is not a subsidy; it is a debt owed by the United States, a congressionally appointed panel said Thursday. The commission, created by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1989, reported on the nation's "genocidal" housing problem in Indian country, Alaska and Hawaii. 34 RECOMMENDATIONS MADE: The Congressional panel submitted its report to Congress with 34 recommendations to ease the problem and a warning that the report had better not join others gathering dust on congressional shelves. The leading idea is to create a Native American Finance Authority as a conduit between government-sponsored lenders and the diverse tribes and other native communities. TITAN MAKES DEAL WITH A.F.: The Titan Corp. announced Thursday that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Air Force on the technical aspects of the UHF SATCOM Terminal System contract. Titan received a letter from the Air Force July 16 which approved the technical aspects of a proposal submitted by Titan to resolve contract issues and claims between the parties. Titan expects a formal agreement in September. DELTA STUDYING COMPLAINTS: Delta Air Lines said Thursday it is continuing to conduct reviews of complaints made by Pan Am personnel who sought employment with Delta last year. Delta said 10,000 interviews were conducted in a short period of time in late 1991 and more than 7,000 former Pan Am personnel were hired. Delta has identified no cases in which discrimination exists. BIG THREE TO APPEAL RULING: The Big Three automakers said Thursday they will appeal a government ruling that Japanese-brand minivan sales have not hurt sales of U.S.-made minivans. GM, Ford and Chrysler say the International Trade Commission ruling in June was flawed because it leaned too heavily on a Toyota study, which said Toyota's Previa minivan competes with Canadian-built vehicles, not U.S.-made ones. NEW TRADE PACT IN WORKS: A tentative agreement on breaking trade barriers could be announced as early as this weekend, though negotiators say there are several sticking points that could prolong the talks. The proposed North American Free Trade Agreement would expand the free trade agreement between Canada and the USA to include Mexico. Congressional approval isn't expected until next year. WALSH, GILLEN UNDER SPOTLIGHT: Congressional auditors are looking at the financial affairs of special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh and deputy Craig Gillen to determine whether they broke the law by not paying Washington, D.C. income taxes, The Washington Times reported. Walsh lives in Oklahoma, but spends time in Washington since his Iran-contra probe began in 1986. Gillen lives in Atlanta and works in Washington. OSRAM TO BUY SYLVANIA: Siemens A.G.'s Osram division Thursday said it will acquire GTE Corp.'s Sylvania lighting division in the U.S. for more than $1 billion, Bloomberg Business News reported. Simultaneously, Citicorp Venture Capital Corp., based in London, said it will buy Sylvania's European business. The amount Osram pays GTE will be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Business Law Editor: Kate Coughlin. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM