BUSINESS BRIEFS: Pittsylvania company to lay off 70 workers

By Staff Reports

Published: January 8, 2009

VIRGINIA

Pittsylvania company to lay off 70 workers

RINGGOLD -- Seventy employees of a cabinetry manufacturing plant in Pittsylvania County are losing their jobs, at least temporarily.

Yorktowne Cabinetry said the affected workers were informed Tuesday. The layoffs could last more than six months.

The announcement comes roughly two months after the company notified all employees that job cuts were possible if the home-building industry continued to decline. Yorktowne employed 165 workers before the layoffs.

Metrorail extension to Dulles airport advances

WASHINGTON -- The long-anticipated extension of Metrorail in Northern Virginia to Dulles International Airport is another step closer to reality.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced yesterday that the Bush administration has given its final approval for phase one of the $5.2 billion project. The project now goes before Congress for its 60-day review.

The Metrorail extension, known as the silver line, will be built in two phases. The first will run from Falls Church through Tysons Corner to Reston. The second phase will run from Reston to Dulles and Loudoun County.

BB&T chairman to give talk about credit crunch

BB&T Chairman John A. Allison IV will discuss the nation's credit crunch at the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond 5:30 p.m. Monday, at the Omni Richmond Hotel, 100 S. 12th St., Richmond.

BB&T, which has a substantial presence in Richmond and the Southeast, has maintained its profitability through the current economic turbulence.

BB&T Corp., headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. , is the nation's 14th largest financial-holding company, with $137 billion in assets. The company ranks No. 4 in market share in Virginia and Washington.

Northrop Grumman reveals consolidation

Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest warship builder, said yesterday that it will combine seven units into five to lower costs.

The Integrated Systems group will be combined with Space Technology to form a new Aerospace Systems unit, and the Information Technology and Mission Systems groups will be combined as Information Systems, the Los Angeles-based company announced.

Northrop, the only builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy, had already streamlined its shipbuilding business by combining its Newport News and Ship Systems units in January 2008. The company also operates the state of Virginia's computer systems under a $2 billion contract.

THE NATION

Taxpayer advocate criticizes complex code

WASHINGTON -- The nation's tax code is so complex that taxpayers spend nearly $200 billion a year on the work required to comply with requirements, the government's taxpayer advocate said in a report released yesterday.

The report also said the Internal Revenue Service should do more to help financially strapped taxpayers meet their obligations.

Lawmakers have been talking about simplifying tax laws for years, yet the tax code has grown to 3.7 million words, Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson wrote in her report. In the past eight years, the tax code has grown by more than a word a day.

"There is a real economic cost of complying with the tax code," Olson said.

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