Included in IMPO's top five news stories: A look at Air Force One's foreign contract ties and the first U.S. factory in Cuba since the revolution.
Take a look at last week's top news stories:
Union Says No Progress In Reversing Factory Closing Decision: A union leader says he'll try to put outside pressure on a company to reverse its decision to shut down a 1,400-worker factory in Indianapolis and move production to Mexico. United Steelworkers Local 1999 president Chuck Jones says a meeting Wednesday with Carrier Corp. executives didn't make any progress toward stopping the move. Jones says the Indianapolis factory is profitable, but that Carrier plans to pay Mexican workers $3 an hour. Carrier Corp. announced it planned to close the factory over a three-year period starting in 2017.
IMPOssibilities: Air Force One Contract A Head Scratcher: Executive Editor Mike Botta shares his thoughts on the recent revelation of Air Force One's Saudi ties.
MM: Nissan's Self-Parking Office Chairs: In this episode, Associate Editor Katie Mohr explains how Nissan applies its intelligent park assist technology to the office environment with autonomous chairs. Follow the link to watch the autonomous chairs in action.
U.S. OK's First Factory In Cuba Since Revolution: The Obama administration approved the first U.S. factory in Cuba in more than half a century, allowing a two-man company from Alabama to build a plant assembling as many as 1,000 small tractors a year for sale to private farmers in Cuba. Cuban officials already have publicly and enthusiastically endorsed the project. The partners said they expect to be building tractors in Cuba by the first quarter of 2017. The $5 million to $10 million plant would be the first significant U.S. business investment on Cuban soil since Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and nationalized billions of dollars of U.S. corporate and private property.
North Dakota Officials Allow Oil Wells To Remain Idle Amid Low Prices: Thousands of North Dakota oil wells could remain shut down for an additional year following a decision reached last week by the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The Associated Press reports that the commission agreed to extend the time in which wells can remain idle from 12 months to 24 months. Previously, producers were required to either resume production or plug idle wells after one year. Many, however, remain offline due to crude oil prices that plummeted to half their value between July 2014 and January 2015. The decision applies to the state's approximately 3,100 "stripper" wells that often produce only several barrels of oil per day. Currently, about 1,180 are idle.