Posted on Wed, May. 14, 2008
MIKE ARMSTRONG: Coming up, production has been halted at the Boeing plant in Ridley Township. An army investigative team is on the scene, and we’ll tell you why they’re there. Making fuel from cornstalks is getting a boost from DuPont. We’ll tell you how the chemical company is making a move into bio-fuels. And say bye-bye to Wi-Fi, EarthLink is pulling the plug in Philadelphia. We have the details. Philadelphia Business Today starts now.
[OPENING TITLE]
MIKE ARMSTRONG: Boeing shut down the Ridley Township production line of Chinook helicopters on Tuesday. The company would say only that it detected possible manufacturing irregularities in two combat helicopters. U.S. Representative Joe Sestak of Delaware County says officials told him that wires appeared to have been broken or severed in one helicopter and a washer was found in another. U.S. Army investigators met with Boeing officials this morning, following an overnight inspection of the helicopters. Each Chinook cost between $20 million and $30 million and is suited for high altitude combat such as in the mountains of . It’s unclear how long the assembly line will remain shut down. Look for updates of this story on Philly.com.
The knock on biofuels is they use too much food like corn. The next generation of biofuels is an ethanol made from cornstalks and leaves. Today DuPont said it was teaming up with a Danish company to do just that. DuPont and Genencor will spend $140 million over three years to build a cellulosic ethanol company. Since 2000, both companies have gotten more than $60 million in grants through the Federal Energy Department. That money helped them develop the processes they’ll use in the new ethanol factories. They hope to have a pilot plant in the in 2009 and a commercial scale factory within three years.
Call this one the least surprising story of the year. Philadelphia’s experiment with municipal wireless internet access is all but over. EarthLink, the Atlantic company hired to build the network, will end the service June 12th. Several years ago the city got a lot of praise for trying to bridge the digital divide, but as wireless technology kept evolving, it was clear that EarthLink’s system wasn’t getting the customers it needed to make a go of it here. Plus, the City of Philadelphia can’t afford to spend money on Wi-Fi at a time when it’s faced with expiring union contracts and other budget challenges.
That’s it for today. At The Inquirer, I’m Mike Armstrong for Philadelphia Business Today.
[CLOSING TITLE]
This transcript of Philadelphia Business Today may not be completely accurate and may contain inaccuracies. The original recording of Philadelphia Business Today, not this transcript, is final and authoritative. Philly.com and The Philadelphia Inquirer shall have no liability for errors in this transcript and bear no responsibility for losses, lost profits, direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages stemming from any actions based solely on this transcript.
today's poll
email this
print this
