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Peninsula Packaging gets $3.4m solar incentive

Exeter-based Peninsula Packaging received a $3.4 million oversized check Friday from Southern California Gas Co. as a cash incentive for the company's recent solar panel installation.

The maker of plastic containers announced plans last year to install an $8 million solar power system designed to save the company about $50,000 a month.

The system of 4,000 rooftop solar panels follows the sun's movements during the day and converts the energy it captures into electricity. The 1-megawatt power plant generates enough electricity to power 800 homes.

Southern California Edison is one of several investor-owned utility companies in California allotted state money to reward businesses that turn to self-generated energy.

Attending the event Friday were Assembly Member Bill Maze, R-Visalia, Peninsula Packaging co-owner and general manager Ed Byrne and officials from Southern California Gas Co.

Federal funds available to aid those hit by freeze

Local governments struggling to pay for public services after the January freeze can apply for grants of up to $300,000 to cover everything from health care to business loans, Gov. Schwarzenegger said Friday.

A total of $4 million in federal funds is available for many freeze-affected cities and counties through a program administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, he said.

"This funding is essential for workers, businesses and communities who have suffered devastating losses associated with the recent record-setting freeze," Schwarzenegger said.

On Tuesday, President Bush declared the freeze a federal disaster for 12 counties hit by the cold snap that caused about $1.3 billion in crop losses and left 28,000 farmworkers unemployed.

About 53 cities and 11 counties can apply for the Community Development Block Grant funds, Schwarzenegger said.

Applications accepted for Clovis farmers market

The Business Organization of Old Town Clovis is accepting applications from certified growers, food vendors and children's attractions for the 2007 Old Town Clovis farmers market.

The market runs Fridays from May 11 through Sept. 14.

The event draws an average attendance of 5,000 people.

Details: (559) 298-5774 or www.clovisoldtown.com.

Used soda bottles sought to aid national park land

Orchard Supply Hardware is collecting used 20-ounce soda bottles through April, and TerraCycle Inc. will donate 5 cents for every bottle to the California State Parks Foundation.

The foundation will use the money to help maintain 1.4 million acres of national park land in California.

Bottles may be dropped off in Fresno at 5653 E. Kings Canyon Road, 5445 N. Blackstone Ave. and 1536 E. Champlain Drive; and in Clovis at 147 W. Shaw Ave.

For other OSH locations: osh.know-where.com/osh/.

China says investment plan won't hurt dollar

BEIJING -- Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said plans to diversify the country's more than $1 trillion in reserves, roughly a third of which are held in U.S. Treasury bills, will not hurt the dollar.

Speaking at the close of the annual session of the Chinese parliament, Wen sought to reassure those who had been nervous about the country's plans to form an investment fund to manage part of its foreign exchange reserves.

Oil prices fall slightly

NEW YORK -- Oil prices slipped Friday, weighed down by the front-month contract's expiration next week and the stock market's continued weakness, a possible harbinger of an economic slowdown.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 44 cents to settle at $57.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Tech firms seek unused TV airwaves for Internet

WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and other technology companies are bumping into resistance from U.S. television broadcasters as they seek regulatory approval to deliver high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves.

The technology companies, which have submitted a prototype device to the Federal Communications Commission for testing, say their aim is to make broadband Internet connections accessible and affordable to millions more Americans.

Broadcasters, though, fear the unproven device could interfere with TV service, and even some technology experts have reservations about how well the device will actually perform.

$10b bid for Chicago exchange likely too late

CHICAGO -- As Chicago Board of Trade executives Friday studied a $10 billion buyout offer from an Atlanta electronic exchange, some analysts said the bid may be too late to derail a merger creating an all-Chicago titan in the financial derivatives industry.

The parties in the proposed pairing of Chicago exchanges -- CBOT Holdings Inc. and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. -- again refrained from commenting Friday on the unsolicited bid by electronic futures market IntercontinentalExchange Inc.