Subsidies

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a $2-billion annual federal program to subsidize Internet connections for schools and libraries. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals backed the Federal Communications Commission's decisions to allow the subsidies to be used to pay directly for Internet access as well as needed internal wiring at schools and libraries. Major telephone carriers such as GTE Corp. had argued that the money could only be spent on telecommunications services.

The East Los Angeles Community Union expects to finish the first phase of City View Terrace, its 106-unit townhouse development at the former site of City View Hospital in Lincoln Heights, by early March. With help from the Century Freeway Housing Program, the development will offer qualified first-time homeowners subsidized home loans. The Century Freeway Project will fund a "silent second" mortgage of up to $50,000, said TELACU President David C. Lizarraga.

A consumer group is turning the tables on banks' chief complaint against credit unions, saying bankers receive far more in federal subsidies than their nonprofit rivals. The study, to be released today by San Francisco's Consumer Action, contends banks receive two to five times as much in federal benefits as credit unions, even after adjusting for banks' far greater asset size.

A high-level Defense Department task force, warning that the American semiconductor industry will wither unless immediate action is taken to combat foreign competition, urgently recommended Thursday that the Pentagon pump $1 billion in subsidies into an institute formed by a consortium of U.S. manufacturers. "It is simply no longer possible for individual U.S. semiconductor firms to compete independently" against government-backed industries in Japan and elsewhere, said Norman R.

The world's biggest steel-producing nations failed to nail down a deal on reducing subsidies to the sector and suspended formal talks until next year. They had been aiming for an agreement by September but disagreed over the scope for allowing some subsidies in developing countries seeking special treatment, and over subsidies for closing inefficient plants. The U.S.

World leaders at the Group of 20 summit are set to pledge to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, according to a copy of a declaration scheduled for release this afternoon. The pledge is purposely vague, though it clearly intends to eliminate tax breaks and direct government assistance for oil, coal and other fossil fuels. It does not set a date for that subsidy phaseout, nor does it specify what would count as a "subsidy" or how countries would police compliance. Environmentalists hailed the pledge as a building block for international efforts to curb global warming and as a small burst of momentum in the run-up to international climate change treaty negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

European governments have blinked first in an aircraft subsidies dispute with the United States, agreeing to withhold funding commitments for a new Airbus plane set to be launched while negotiations continue. As Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. prepared for a board meeting at which it was expected to give the green light for the A350 jet, executives said no government funding promises would be announced with the launch.

The European Union said it would consider cuts in subsidies for Airbus only if aid to rival Boeing Co. was reduced by Washington. "We would not accept this unilaterally," EU spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez said. On Thursday, negotiators from the EU and the U.S. will review a 1992 accord that limits subsidies for the world's two largest plane makers to 33% of the production costs for new models. Allegations of unfair subsidies for Airbus and Boeing have long been a feature of transatlantic

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioners on Thursday approved new subsidies for low-income residents, which could trim about 15% off the average water and power bill for low-income residents. Water bills for disadvantaged families could be cut by $1.98 a month and electricity bills by $3.35 a month under the plan, which must be approved by the City Council. Others would see an increase of less than 1% in their bills to make up the difference, DWP officials said.

The Los Angeles City Council this week approved subsidies that could trim about $6.75 each month from utility bills of low-income residents. Water payments from disadvantaged families could be cut by $1.98 each month, power by $3.75 and sewer service by $1.02 under the plan, which must be approved by Mayor Tom Bradley. The subsidies would take effect 30 days after Bradley signs the ordinances.