By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

Due to a bankruptcy court settlement between Granite Broadcasting Corp. and Twentieth Century Fox, Palau retained Stuart Beck as its ambassador to the United Nations, according to a news report from the Associated Press.
The AP report was published on March 2 in the Houston Chronicle’s online news edition, which said that Judge Allan L. Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved Granite's settlement of a lawsuit filed by Twentieth Century Fox.
It said that as part of its deal with Fox, Granite also would pay its former president Beck $2 million.
Because of this, AP said that the deal would also allow Beck to continue to serve as Palau’s representative to the UN.
"New York-based Granite Broadcasting filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 11, listing assets of $443.5 million and debts of $644.1 million," the news report said.
Palau pays Beck, who is married to a Palauan, a nominal $1 a year to represent its interests at the U.N.
AP quoted the 60-year-old Beck, who left Granite in 2005, as saying that "the company owed him $3.1 million, money he was depending on for his retirement."
"He said he would be forced to give up his U.N. position if Granite, which filed for bankruptcy in December, didn't pay him in full," AP said in its report.
Beck was named as Palau’s first ambassador to the world body in 2004. He served as a legal adviser to Palau when it was still administered by the U.S. government.
Beck co-founded Granite Broadcasting with former Goldman Sachs & Co. executive W. Don Cornell in 1988.
According AP, Fox had sued Granite, claiming the broadcaster owed it $28.9 million for the rights to air Fox Television-produced shows "King of the Hill" and "Dharma and Greg" in San Francisco.
"Granite claimed that only its San Francisco station, former WB Network affiliate KBWB, was on the hook to the production company. Under the settlement Fox will receive $8 million," AP reported.