LINCOLN, NEB. (Sept. 2, 1:55 p.m. ET) -- With the completion of a $5 million expansion and renovation that nearly doubles its available capacity, injection molder HTI Plastics -- which derives 60 percent of its sales from the medical and pharmaceutical markets -- is now in position to grow its sales 33 percent by 2014. (more)

MCQUEENEY, TEXAS (Sept. 2, 10:45 a.m. ET) -- Thermoformer Republic Plastics LP will acquire an 85,000-square-foot facility previously owned by another plastics company in Eloy, Ariz. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (more)

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. (Sept. 1, 10 a.m. ET) -- For the third straight year, the effort to ban or tax plastic carryout bags in California has failed. The California Senate late Aug. 31 rejected AB 1998, which would have banned the use of plastic bags starting in 2012 at large grocery stores. The 20-14 no vote was seven votes short of what was needed to pass the measure, which had been approved by the state Assembly in June. (more)