Gas prices hit new record as oil jumps to $110

Gasoline and oil prices extended their record-setting streaks Wednesday, with gas at the pump reaching a new high of nearly $3.25 and crude surpassing $110 for the first time. The gains came as a weakening dollar led investors to shrug off an Energy Department report that crude oil and gasoline supplies jumped last week. The national average price of a gallon of regular gas rose by 1.9 cents overnight to $3.246 a gallon, a record, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Pump prices are following crude's recent surge, and could rise as high as $3.75 a gallon this spring, analysts say. Meanwhile, light, sweet crude for April delivery rose $1.17 to settle at a record $109.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising to a new trading record of $110.20.

52 nuclear jobs in Tenn.

Westinghouse Electric Co. will create 52 jobs in an expansion of its Chattanooga nuclear services business unit. The company is spending $9.45 million to buy a vacant, 65,000-square-foot building in the Centre South Riverport and add the 52 new jobs for nuclear engineers and technicians. Russell L. Bussard, facilities and real estate manager for Monroeville-based Westinghouse Electric, said Chattanooga's "central location, superior transportation network and highly trained engineers" were factors in the expansion decision. Westinghouse Nuclear Services employs 75 people in Chattanooga and plans to occupy the expansion by May 1.

Excela's new executive

Excela Health hired Kim Norton Hollon for the new position of executive vice president of the health care system and CEO of Excela Health hospitals. Hollon will oversee operations of the three-, soon-to-be four-hospital system, while serving as head for all clinical and medical activities. He will be responsible for the system's ambulatory care network. Prior to joining Excela, Hollon was president of Methodist Dallas Medical Center, the 515-bed flagship hospital of the Methodist Health System, Dallas. Hollon has been involved with hospital operations since 1980. Greensburg-based Excela includes Westmoreland Regional, Latrobe and Frick hospitals and, effective May 1, Mercy Jeannette Hospital.

Wrigley gum changes

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. will overhaul the packaging and flavor of its ubiquitous stick gums, including Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, Big Red and Extra brands, as part of an effort to revive sagging U.S. sales. The confectioner announced the makeover Wednesday during its annual shareholders meeting in Chicago, saying the change would help boost the gum's profile among store shoppers. Stick gum sales account for about a third of the company's gum revenue, but aren't nearly as popular with shoppers as tab gum, such as Orbit, and pellet gum, such as Eclipse.

Furniture settlement

Robert Kissane, president of the bankrupt Hampton House Furniture stores, agreed to pay $18,400 in refunds to consumers, under a settlement reached Wednesday with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Consumers complained after they put down deposits but did not receive merchandise after the company, with stores in North Versailles and Allison Park, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2006. Individual refunds will be determined after valid claims are lodged at www.attorneygeneral.gov or at 800-441-2555 by the April 11 deadline.

New leader at Ketchum

Ketchum Inc. named a new president Wednesday with a fund-raising background, and its parent company announced a new strategic alliance in that field. Kristina Carlson, a founder of FundraisingINFO.com, succeeds Robert E. Carter as president of Ketchum, which has a Pittsburgh office. Carlson was Ketchum's campaign director from 1988-92. Dallas-based Viscern Inc., meanwhile, will work with FundraisingINFO.com and MaGIC Inc. to become exclusive providers of prospect screening, research and other services for Ketchum and another subsidiary, RSI.

Other business news

• Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. fell for the fifth consecutive day following Tuesday's profit forecast that trailed some analysts' estimates. Profit will probably be 16 cents to 19 cents a share this quarter, the company said. Analysts had estimated 23 cents, on average. The average estimate fell to 20 cents Wednesday. Dick's shares fell yesterday 31 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $25.05.

• Alcoa Inc. acquired Republic Fastener Manufacturing Corp., and Van Petty Manufacturing, two Newbury Park, Calif.-based aerospace fastener manufacturing companies for an undisclosed price from the Wood Family Trust. The two companies in 2007 had combined revenues totalling $51 million and employ 240. The two companies will become pat of Alcoa Fastening Systems, headquartered in Torrance, Calif., which employs some 6,600 at 26 locations in nine countries.

• Nemacolin Woodlands in Farmington, Fayette County, named Garrison Hughes as its advertising agency, with an undisclosed budget. The resort handled ads in-house before. Downtown-based Garrison Hughes counts Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PPG Industries Inc. and the law firm Reed Smith among its clients.

• Investor William Newlin made an undisclosed investment in Downtown-based virtual training company Etcetera Edutainment and joined the company as principal strategic adviser. Newlin Investment Co.'s investment represents more than 50 percent of the convertible debt financing the company's using for product development and sales, it said.