By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Texas Instruments says it is buying fellow chip-maker National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion in cash in a move to expand its share of the market for analog chips, which are used in a wide range of electronics.
Texas Instruments Inc., based in Dallas, has agreed to pay $25 per share for Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor Corp.
That marks a 78 percent premium to that stock's closing stock price Monday before the deal was announced.
FAA Issues Emergency Order For 737 Inspections
The Federal Aviation Administration says it will issue an emergency safety order requiring special inspections aimed at finding metal fatigue in some Boeing 737s.
The order is a response to an incident Friday night in which a large hole opened in the roof of a Southwest Airlines plane, forcing an emergency landing in Yuma, Ariz.
The FAA said the order, which will be issued on Tuesday, will affect about 175 planes worldwide. Of those, 80 are registered in the U.S., and nearly all are operated by Southwest.
The order will require inspections using electromagnetic, or eddy-current, technology in specific areas of the fuselage of older 737s with a high number of takeoffs and landings.
American Airlines tickets back on Expedia, Hotwire
American Airlines flights are available again on travel sites Expedia and Hotwire, ending a three-month old pricing dispute.
American had been trying to pay lower commissions to online travel sites for each ticket booked. The terms of agreement between the airline's parent company AMR Corp. and the travel company, Expedia Inc., were not disclosed.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline's tickets are still not being offered on Orbitz.
Senate votes to change Railroad Commission name
The Texas Senate has voted to rename the historic Texas Railroad Commission as the state Oil and Gas Commission to better reflect the agency's duties.
Monday's vote also reduces the number of commissioners from three to one, eliminating two statewide elected offices.
The Railroad Commission was created in 1891 but by the 1960s was dealing almost exclusively with oil and gas issues. Its last authority over railroads was removed in 2005.
State lawmakers have been reluctant in the past to change its name. Critics say reducing the number of commissioners gives too much power to one individual over an industry so vital to the Texas economy.
Senate votes to require power report
The Texas Senate has voted to require regulators to study whether the state's power generators can handle severe weather.
Texas had rolling blackouts in February. Arctic weather sunk temperatures into single digits and knocked out more than 80 power stations.
Monday's vote calls for the state Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to study emergency operations plans at power plants and report their findings to the Legislature in 2012.
The report is to cover cold and hot weather emergencies.