NATION

NATION

More trucks to haul wheat

DENVER — Gov. Bill Ritter has issued a disaster emergency order letting more trucks haul wheat because there aren’t enough commercial transports to handle this year’s bumper crop.

The order allows vehicles with farm plates to enter commercial service hauling wheat to elevators, railroad sidings or markets. Colorado law allows farmers to use farm-plate vehicles only for hauling their own crops, for farming purposes or for personal transportation. Ritter’s order expands that to include commercial hauling for 45 days.

Without the order, millions of dollars worth of wheat could be damaged or lost while sitting on the ground awaiting transport, Ritter said.

Colorado’s 87-million-bushel wheat harvest is the largest in nearly 10 years, and double last year’s, state officials said.

REGION

TeleTracking makes list

PITTSBURGH — For the fifth straight year, TeleTracking Technologies, a developer of capacity management and patient flow solutions for the health-care industry, has been named to the Pittsburgh Business Times’ annual “Pittsburgh 100” list of fastest-growing privately owned companies.

Tele-Tracking was 16 in the technology sector and 71 overall, up from 74 in the previous year. The ranking reflects sales growth of 59.2 percent from 2004 to 2006 and a 45.7-percent increase in employment.

TeleTracking Technologies, a leader in patient flow automation, serves some 680 hospitals in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

Heinz earnings grow

PITTSBURGH — H.J. Heinz Co. said Friday its fiscal first-quarter earnings grew 6 percent, driven by double-digit growth in ketchup, beans, soups and Smart Ones meals, and the ketchup maker raised its outlook for the full year.

Net income rose to $205.3 million, or 63 cents per share, from $194.1 million, or 58 cents per share, a year ago. Sales climbed 9 percent to $2.25 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 1 from $2.06 billion in the prior-year period.

Sales of the company’s top-15 brands grew 11 percent year-over-year, as sales of ketchup rose 13 percent and sales of beans and soups increased about 25 percent. Sales of healthy entrees line Smart Ones grew 25 percent, buoyed by the successful launch of Smart Ones Anytime Selections.

Combined wire dispatches