GM to produce SUV at Tennessee plant
General Motors Co. is laying off 1,100 workers at an assembly plant in Michigan.
GM said it’s ending the third shift at its Lansing Delta Township plant because one of its products – the GMC Acadia SUV – is moving to Spring Hill, Tenn.
The Lansing plant will still have two shifts building the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs.
Lansing’s last day as a three-shift plant will be May 12.
GM announced last spring that it would make the new Acadia in Tennessee. It has added a third shift and around 800 jobs to its plant in Spring Hill.
Former bank manager jailed for embezzlement
A former First Tennessee bank manager in Greeneville, Tenn., must pay more than $1 million in restitution after being sentenced to 36 months in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion.
Kenneth L. Miller, 37, worked at First Tennessee from May 2000 until February 2016, during which time he embezzled nearly $1 million from bank customers. He spent or lost most of the money through online gambling, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Miller pleaded guilty after federal investigators confronted him with evidence of his theft and tax evasion, the release said.
As part of his plea agreement, he admitted to “earning and then abusing the trust of various clients by telling them falsely that he would engage in financial transactions for their benefit and using his position as a manager of the bank to identify clients who he knew did not review their monthly statements and also to identify inactive accounts,” according to the release. “He knew the owners of such accounts would be unlikely to detect the embezzlement.”
Miller also failed to pay taxes on the funds he admitted to embezzling, evading a total of $161,018 in tax payments from 2012 through 2015.
First Tennessee later reimbursed most of the losses to its account holders after it found out about Miller’s scheme.
Local gas prices dip despite U.S. increase
Despite an increase in gasoline prices in most of America, prices at the pump in Chattanooga fell by nearly a penny a gallon last week, on average, to $2.02 a gallon.
Although local fuel prices are up 3.5 cents a gallon from a month ago and 44.6 cents from a year ago, Chattanooga gas prices still average 29 cents per gallon less than the U.S. average of $2.31 a gallon.
Gas prices Monday were also still below $1.90 a gallon at three local stations on Lee Highway and Chattanooga still has dozens of service stations selling gas below $2 even though GasBuddy’s nationwide survey found just 8,000 stations across the country with gas priced below $2 a gallon on Sunday.
“Gasoline prices are starting to pick up steam as a majority of states see their average rise over last week, a function of the season’s theatrics coming into view: refinery maintenance and the transition to cleaner gasoline pumping up prices,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. “As we grow closer to baseball’s opening day, the nation’s motorists will be more likely to strike out when trying to find $1.99 gas prices.”
Trump cheers Exxon $20 billion investment
President Donald Trump on Monday praised Exxon Mobil Corp. after the company announced plans to create thousands of jobs by spending $20 billion over 10 years on refineries, chemical and liquefied natural gas plants along the Gulf Coast.
Exxon said the work would create 12,000 permanent jobs – Exxon currently has about 71,000 employees – and 35,000 construction jobs.
We are already winning again, America!” Trump tweeted.
In December, Trump plucked Exxon’s then-CEO, Rex Tillerson, to be his secretary of state. The new chairman and CEO of Exxon, Darren Woods, said Monday the company would expand at several current plants and build a new one to create petroleum products for export.
The company said it plans 10 expansion projects at current facilities around Beaumont and Baytown, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La., and wants to build a new chemicals plant at a location yet to be determined along the Gulf.
CSX hires new CEO who led rail turnaround
CSX has hired the executive who led Canadian Pacific’s turnaround and has also reached a deal with the hedge fund pushing for changes at the railroad.
CSX Corp. said Monday that Hunter Harrison will become the railroad’s CEO immediately, replacing Michael Ward. Harrison, Mantle Ridge hedge fund founder Paul Hilal and three others will join CSX’s board.
Harrison said he plans to implement the tightly scheduled operating model he used at CP and Canadian National railroads to reduce costs and boost profits.
CSX said it will ask shareholders to vote on aspects of Harrison’s compensation package that would include reimbursing him for $84 million in compensation he forfeited at CP. Harrison said he will resign if the compensation isn’t approved.
Harrison will also get options on 9 million CSX shares.
Factory orders up 1.2 percent in January
U.S. businesses increased their orders in January although a key component that tracks business investment spending fell for the first time in four months.
The Commerce Department said factory orders rose 1.2 percent, led by a jump in demand for aircraft.