Restaurant chain moves to Tennessee, adds 100 jobs
CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. , the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, announced Wednesday it is moving its corporate headquarters from Carpinteria, Calif. to Franklin, Tenn. CKE will invest $5 million in the new headquarters and create over 100 jobs in Williamson County.
Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants, which also owns St. Louis-based Hardee’s, is consolidating both offices in Tennessee, where it has several company-owned restaurants. The new headquarters will occupy 47,030 rentable square feet across 1.5 floors of offices in Franklin.
CKE’s Anaheim, Calif. corporate office will remain fully operational.
“We are pleased to bring CKE’s headquarters to Tennessee, a state that understands business and provides companies like ours with an environment that facilitates success,” Andy Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, said. “We look forward to calling the city of Franklin our base of operations as we continue to meaningfully forge ahead with some very exciting new developments in the foreseeable future.”
The TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is photographed on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, near Spring City, Tenn., as Unit 2 begins producing electricity for the first time, 43 years after construction began at the site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled an open house next Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Comfort Inn in Athens, Tenn., to discuss the agency’s 2015 assessment of both units at the Watts Bar nuclear plant site.
In letters released Wednesday, NRC’s chief of the reactor projects, Alan Blamey, said TVA “operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and met all cornerstone objectives” for both Unit 1, which has operated since 1996, and unit 2, which TVA is trying to start up this year.
Watts Bar, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is located near Spring City, Tenn. The NRC issued an operating license for Unit 2 in October 2015 and it is expected to go into commercial operation soon.
The NRC has resident inspectors at each unit and those inspectors as well as other staff members will be available to answer questions on the safety performance and regulatory oversight of both Watts Bar units, as well as highlights of NRC inspections.
“We invite the public to visit with us and find out what we’re doing to ensure Watts Bar Unit 1 is being operated safely and Unit 2 meets all NRC testing and startup requirements,” said NRC Region II Administrator Cathy Haney. “These annual meetings offer an opportunity for everyone, and especially people who live near the plant, to learn about our inspection and oversight programs.”
Lawmakers blast Valeant for price-gouging tactics
WASHINGTON – Lawmakers accused Valeant Pharmaceuticals of gouging patients to reward Wall Street investors at a hearing Wednesday focused on the embattled drugmaker’s pricing tactics.
The tough words from Senate Republicans and Democrats came as billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman defended the company’s business model and its outgoing CEO expressed regrets for its most egregious price increases.
The intense scrutiny of the Laval, Quebec-based company has triggered repeated sell-offs of Valeant shares, which have lost nearly 90 percent of their value since peaking last August.
Germany to subsidize electric cars at home
BERLIN – Germany’s auto industry risks being overtaken by foreign competitors unless it receives greater domestic support, the country’s economy minister said Wednesday, announcing a 1 billion euro ($1.13 billion) plan to subsidize electric cars.
Electric vehicles have had a sluggish start in Germany, the country where the combustion engine-powered automobile was born. A government plan to get 1 million e-cars on the streets by 2020 is far behind schedule, with just 50,000 sold so far. Starting in May, buyers will get 4,000 euros ($4,514.80) toward the purchase of an all-electric vehicle, while plug-in hybrids will receive a subsidy of up to 3,000 euros.