Business Briefs: TVA opens dam spillways

photo Water pours out of all 11 spillways at Chickamauga dam in this file photo.

TVA opens dam spillways

The Tennessee Valley Authority is spilling water through eight of its nine mainstream dams to help draw down TVA's rain-swollen reservoirs to lower winter pool levels. At the Chickamauga Dam on Friday, TVA was running 38,000 cubic feet per second of water through its hydro generators and spilling nearly 33,000 cubic feet per second of water through its spillways. The heavy river flow, equa. to 532,000 gallons per second, restricts barge movement at night, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"With all the rain we've had this year, we're spilling water to recover more flood storage space, which can be critical if we get heavy winter rains like we did last January," TVA spokesman Travis Brickey said.


Justice sues Dean Foods

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit that claims Dean Foods conspired with another milk processor and a dairy cooperative to reduce competition in the milk industry. Dean Foods, the parent company of Mayfield Dairy in Athens, Tenn., merged with Suiza Foods in 2001 when the two were the largest processed milk bottlers. The Department of Justice allowed the merger with certain conditions that were intended to ensure competition in the industry.

The suit claims that Dean Foods, National Dairy Holdings and Dairy Farmers of America have conspired to undermine that competition. It was filed by retailers Food Lion and Fidel Breto, who say the conspiracy has made processed milk more expensive.


AT&T offering customer incentives

AT&T Inc., aiming to get a jump on an anticipated move by T-Mobile US Inc., has began offering customers of its smaller rival as much as $450 in credits for devices and services for each line they switch.

AT&T said in a statement Friday it would pay T-Mobile cusotmers who switch to AT&T a promotion card of up to $250 to use for purchasing AT&T products and services. T-Mobile cusotmers also can receive an additional $200 credit per linewhen they transfer wireless service to AT&T.

"The timing of this move is very purposeful," Jennifer Fritzsche, an analyst with Wells Fargo & Co., wrote in a note Friday. Bloomberg news said T-Mobile may announce a plan next week offering $350 in credit to customers that switch.


Loudon store is Post Office

The U.S. Postal Service said Friday it is locating its latest Post Office for Loudon, Tenn., in Sloan's Village Home Center. The storefront provides a new full-service Contract Postal Unit (CPU), offering postal products and services at the same prices charged at any Post Office. The store and Post Office will operate from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

CPUs are located inside a retail establishment and are operated by the retailer's employees as part of an effort by the Postal Service to maintain personal services without the expense of operating a regalar U.S. Post Office.

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