Exxon, Rent-A-Center, J.C. Penney: Wednesday's Business Briefing

Your lunchtime look at D-FW business [Your lunchtime look at D-FW business] November 01,  2017  Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Follow us on Twitter: [@DMNBiz]( (Reed Saxon / AP) The Big Story Exxon to spend $300 million to upgrade 8 plants to satisfy feds in pollution case Irving-based Exxon Mobil settled air pollution violations with the Trump administration by paying a $2.5 million civil penalty and promising to spend $300 million on pollution-control technology at several plants along the Gulf Coast. [Federal officials said Tuesday that the settlement will prevent thousands of tons of future pollution](, including cancer-causing benzene, from eight petrochemical plants in Texas and Louisiana. Some environmentalists attacked the settlement as insufficient punishment for years of violations by the giant oil company, while others said it addressed excess burning or flaring of gas, a key pollution problem at Exxon plants. -David Keonig, Associated Press Plus: [As Exxon sees it, only 6 percent of vehicles would be electric in 2040]( Also: [Find more energy stories and how the industry affects North Texas]( Advertisement [TREC shark tank]( The Latest - Real estate: Developer [Hunt Southwest](starts new industrial project in McKinney - Sports business: Citing 'positive' steps, [Texas labor union withdraws complaint]( against Cowboys over anthem - Airlines: [American Airlines CEO](meets with NAACP over racial bias complaints - Economy: [Shark Tank-style event]( will match investors with South Dallas projects - Food industry: How one local Wagyu cattle ranch became a go-to beef source for [Dallas chefs]( - Real estate: [Chicago investor]( buys downtown Dallas apartment development SPECIAL OFFER [special offer unlimited digital access]( Jim Besta looks at nutcrackers in the holiday section of J.C. Penney at Collin Creek Mall in Plano. (Nahtan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) Stock market S&P reviews J.C. Penney credit rating and says pressure is on this holiday S&P Global Ratings has revised its outlook for J.C. Penney to negative from stable, saying the company has "little margin for error over the next 12 months." Plano-based Penney cut its outlook for full-year results Friday and warned that its third quarter took a significant hit from markdowns, primarily in women's apparel. S&P said that while the third-quarter actions seemed necessary, "recent actions leave J.C. Penney with little margin for error over the next 12 months, including the important holiday season, if the company experiences further inventory issues or merchandise missteps." [S&P affirmed Penney's credit rating of B+](but said it would lower the rating if Penney's performance doesn't recover meaningfully in 2018.  -[Maria Halkias]( Plus: [Find more on D-FW retail]( Elsewhere in Texas - Health care: [Austin company]( planting medical pot crop after getting state license (Austin American-Statesman) - M&A: Houston's [American Midstream]( buying Southcross Energy (Houston Chronicle) - Autos: [Tundra](sales rose in October (San Antonio Express-News) - Real estate: [HistoryMaker Homes]( accelerates home building after Harvey (Houston Chronicle) - Jobs: [Texas manufacturing]( production, orders, hiring keep rising (San Antonio Express-News) Construction of a 253-unit apartment complex has been halted at 4217 Swiss Avenue in Dallas on Oct. 31, 2017. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News) real estate How the threat of shadows put City Hall, a developer and a neighborhood in a fight The mess of brush, gravel, discarded metal and wooden pallets piled up around the unfinished shell of an East Dallas parking garage looks a lot like the battleground it has become, where a developer, a homeowners association, and City Hall have squared off. And now the developer -- halted by the city's stop-work order and awaiting its day in state appeals court and an appeal within City Hall -- has raised the stakes in the jumbled affair. [Encore Multi-Family LLC, has asked a federal court to let the show go on](, requesting an injunction that would allow them to restart construction at the corner of Peak Street and Swiss Avenue. Encore argued in its federal filing against the city that the effects of the city's stop-work order are "disastrous and have caused and will continue to cause irreparable harm" to the 253-unit project. Mike Northrup, an attorney for the Peak's Addition Neighborhood Association, said he didn't see the need for Encore to make a federal case out of it. -[Tristan Hallman]( Plus: [Find more on D-FW real estate]( The view of Rent-A-Center sign and building on Headquarters Dr. (File 2010) reTAIL Customer complaints mount over Rent-A-Center's aggressive collection tactics Customers for Plano-based Rent-A-Center across the United States are complaining in growing numbers of harassment and wrecked finances after leasing furniture, electronics or appliances from the $3 billion company. They describe their treatment in thousands of complaints to federal or state watchdog agencies, in lawsuits and in [interviews by reporters during a joint investigation by NerdWallet and Raycom Media](. Customers say their credit scores had been damaged unfairly after they settled their accounts. They say they were hounded by debt collectors over bills paid long ago. Many documented lengthy and unsuccessful attempts to get Rent-A-Center to correct its records. Debt collectors who took over Rent-A-Center past due accounts told reporters that nearly a third of the consumers they called had records showing their accounts were paid off. But Rent-A-Center's documents didn't reflect those payments, said the debt agencies, some of which are taking legal action to collect from the company. -Nerd Wallet Plus: [Rent-A-Center puts itself up for sale]( Onboarding Who is getting hired and promoted - PAVLOV named Parks Blackwell chief operating officer and senior vice president of digital. - REALFOUNDATIONS named Kevin Vertrees lead managing consultant. - RLG CONSULTING ENGINEERS named Jared Bratz, Andy Ayers, David Cumming and Mike McLaren principals. - TRANSWESTERN named Franklin Byrd managing senior vice president of corporate operations and finance. Plus: [Find more executive changes]( Follow DFW stocks: [See how top North Texas stocks performed](, as well as the oil and gas markets and major stock exchanges. DFW Top 100 Places to Work 2016: The Dallas Morning News and Workplace Dynamics partner each year to feature the [Top 100 workplaces](, based on ratings by the people who work at them. The 2017 ranking is in progress. Advertisement [TREC shark tank]( 👋  That's all for today! For up-to-the-minute business news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com/Business](. 💖 Share the love: If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. 📧 Do you have feedback on this newsletter? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to our Business Editor Paul O'Donnell at [podonnell@dallasnews.com](mailto:podonnell@dallasnews.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). 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