ISLANDIA, NEW YORK, Oct. 25 -/E-Wire/-- Alcoa, named one of the most sustainable corporations by the World Economic Forum and one of the top "green" companies in the world by Business Week and The Climate Group, is actively developing, evaluating, and implementing natural sustainable technologies to reduce the environmental footprint at its aluminum smelting, refining, and production facilities.

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'No-man' Jeffreys seeks 2nd term

The Wake County commissioner, now running for a second term, has become well-known on the seven-member board for his vocal dissents on tax increases and school funding.His opponent, Lindy Brown, hopes voters will say no to Jeffreys.In December, she quit her job as a social worker for Wake County to run against him full time. She says that she is a middle-of-the-road alternative to the board's most conservative member.The Nov. 7 ballot will give the two a big yes-or-no question of their own.Voters will be asked to approve $970 million in bonds to build 17 schools, renovate 13 older schools, make repairs and buy land for future construction. But the bonds come with a 4.7-cent property tax increase, about $70 a year on a $150,000 home.Jeffreys is against them.He says the school board could delay the building program for several years if it put every elementary, middle and high school in the county on a year-round calendar immediately."If they go K-12 year round, they will have enough seats for the kids," he said.Brown supports the bonds.She says the money is needed to build schools to handle the thousands of students arriving each year and buy land now for future schools.

'China Dream' of US firms - rising profits

US corporate profits in China passed $2 billion the first six months of 2006, up more than 50% from the first half of last year, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. US companies are on pace to earn more in China this year than they earned there during the entire 1990s, notes Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist at Bank of America.

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Superpitcher, Ada Lead Kompakt Vs. Areal Tour

If you're the kind of person who likes your techno sublimely clean and tasteful, the name Kompakt speaks for itself. The esteemed German record label's near-flawless roster includes Michael Mayer, Justus Kohncke, DJ Koze, and Reinhard Voigt, among other minimal masters.

However, Areal, the Kompakt-distributed label quickly gaining notoriety for artists like Basteroid, Roan, and Konfekt, might need a bit more of an introduction. What better way to do that then to send yourself on tour? Starting tonight, October 13, the Kompakt Vs. Areal Tour will click, cut, bleep, and throb across North America.

The trek is headlined by Kompakt wunderkid Superpitcher, aka Aksel Schaufler, who started off in the label's distribution department, and is probably best known to indie rock folks for his remix of Dntel's "(This Is) the Dream of Evan and Chan".

Local resident notes growth in Unicoi County

Jimmy E. Banner stopped into the Beacon's office last week and dropped off a story idea. He noted with seriousness, “a number of completed projects in the 2006." Banner just wanted to put “the growth of Unicoi County in the limelight of progress." His hope of pointing out the growth in Unicoi is to “entice more business and industry to locate in our area."

    Impact Plastic's Company has recently added 22,000 square feet to their plant in the Industrial Park.

Symantec report demonstrates that cyber attacks increasingly ...

The latest Internet Security Threat Report released by Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) shows that because home users are less likely to have established security measures in place, they are being increasingly targeted by attackers for identity theft, fraud, or other financially motivated crime. .