Business/Economy

The Valles Caldera Trust will hold a lottery for the chance for sportsmen to hunt Merriam turkeys on Valles Caldera National Preserve land.
Those wanting to enter the lottery may do so until March 31.
The 2015 turkey hunt will be the ninth such hunt on VCNP land since it was established in 2000.
Eight hunt authorizations will be issued for the two hunts, which are scheduled for May 2-4 and May 8-10. Each applicant will be limited to one ticket per hunt, but may apply for both hunts.
Lottery chances can be purchased for $10 each online through the VCNP website. All funds generated will be used for VCNP management, for activities such as habit restoration and the increase of recreational access.
Those interested in the turkey hunt must also acquire proper licenses to do so from the state’s Department of Game and Fish.
Lottery winners will be notified by email or they may visit the VCNP website on April 3.
For more information, call 1-866-382-5537 or visit vallescaldera.gov.

NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson expects the price of oil to remain low over the next two years because of ample global supplies and relatively weak economic growth.
“People kinda need to settle in for a while,” Tillerson said at the company’s annual investor conference in New York.
In a presentation to investors outlining its business plans through 2017, Exxon assumes a price of $55 a barrel for global crude. That’s $5 below where Brent crude, the most important global benchmark, traded on Wednesday. It’s about half of what Brent averaged between 2011 and the middle of last year.
The price of oil plunged in the second half of 2014 when it became apparent that production was outpacing global demand. U.S. production was particularly robust, with the increase of 1.5 million barrels per day being the third largest on record, according to a report from BP. Meanwhile, weakening economic conditions in China, Japan and Europe slowed the growth in oil demand.
BP CEO Bob Dudley made remarks similar to Tillerson’s in a recent call with investors. The CEOs comments reflect an increasingly common industry view that new sources of oil around the globe, relatively slow growth in demand, and large amounts of crude in storage will keep a lid on prices for the foreseeable future.

Life’s stresses can weigh people down, as can chronic pain, fatigue and other ailments.
Carlos Casias is a Los Alamos entrepreneur who will be opening Float Los Alamos in 2015 and he hopes to help local remedy those problems.
Casias’ float studio will have at least two float tanks.
A float tank is a light- and sound-free environment where a person can float atop a solution of about 10 inches of natural Epsom salt.
While reducing external stimuli, the benefits of a zero-gravity environment can reducing muscle tension, joint pain and discomfort.
Casias’s business, which is still in the planning stages, will make it possible for people to experience floating in a safe and clean environment.
Casias had several ideas for businesses that he would like to bring to Los Alamos, but decided to go with the float tank idea because he personally loves the physical and psychological benefits of the overall experience.
“I started floating in Albuquerque. Once you float, you just want to float all the time,” Casias said.
He has been working with Ted Lopez at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos Small Business and Development Center to develop his business plan and market analysis projections needed to raise startup funds and secure a loan.

Despite the woes of RadioShack, local franchisee Bill Cabral said he’s not going anywhere.
Cabral, who has operated the local RadioShack store at its current location on Central Ave. for more than 10 years, said his store won’t be affected by the current sell-off of stores around the country.
“We have no plans of shutting down,” Cabral said. “We have a number of companies trying to get us to buy from them. We have other resources to buy merchandise.”
Last week, RadioShack announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and had plans to sell between 1,500 and 2,400 company-owned stores nationwide.
That sell-off won’t necessarily affect franchisees like Cabral, however.
As for locally, Cabral said everything should operate at near-normal capacity, although he said it was unknown how long the RadioShack designation would be sustained.
The only problem he envisioned, he said, might be getting some of the smaller electronic components the store carries, but he’s “working on other methods of getting supplies from other suppliers.”