Category: Business

By Arlene Satchell, Sun Sentinel – FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Airlines were walloped by rising oil prices in 2011 and fliers were forced to fork out more for airfares. Experts say 2012 could…

By Jondi Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The numbers are mind-boggling. The price tag for a year at San Francisco State University is rising to $25,000. At the University…

By Tovin Lapan, Santa Cruz Sentinel SANTA CRUZ, Calif. _ In 2009, Ashley Sorci graduated from her suburban Sacramento high school with a 4.25 grade-point average and was about to become the…

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Verizon Wireless, under fire from consumers and federal regulators, scrapped plans to charge a $2 “convenience fee” for those who pay their phone…

By William Hennigan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The Air Force has bought a new hunter-killer aircraft that is the fastest and largest armed drone in its fleet. The Avenger, which…

LOS ANGELES — When it comes to stocks, the U.S. is unexpectedly sitting on top of the world. Stock markets from Berlin to Shanghai to Sao Paulo ended 2011 with double-digit losses…

By Drew DeSilver, The Seattle Times – SEATTLE — In a year when stocks swung wildly from day to day based on perceived macroeconomic risk, it was Europe’s long-running debt crisis, not the…

(DES MOINES, Iowa)  A New Jersey direct television marketing company has agreed to pay $10,500 for full refunds to Iowans who were charged for memberships in its “Everyday Savings Club” membership program….

By John Fauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel MILWAUKEE — Even before it went on the market in 2002, doctors were talking about how the back surgery product known as bone morphogenetic protein-2 would revolutionize…

By Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel – Average interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate home loans hit a new low at 3.91 percent last week, while 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages stayed at its record low, Freddie…

By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — Verizon Wireless is about to make paying your monthly cellphone bill a little more expensive. Starting Jan. 15, the nation’s leading mobile carrier will…

CLEVELAND – Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation (NYSE:ETN) today announced it has completed its acquisition of E.A. Pedersen Company, a manufacturer of medium voltage switchgear primarily for the electrical utilities industry. The…

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 29, 2011– (NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that 2011 was the best holiday ever for the Kindle family as customers purchased millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle e-readers….

By Richard Simon.Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON — Ever wonder what happens to the loose change that harried travelers leave behind at airport checkpoints? One lawmaker has his sights on the unclaimed money,…

Scott Dochterman, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa NEW YORK — Iowa State linebacker Jake Knott will graduate with a business management degree and minor in finance. He had a keen interest of the…

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — Wendy’s is making a high-end re-entry into Japan with a $16 burger festooned with foie gras and truffles. The third-largest fast-food chain in the…

McClatchy-Tribune News Service The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star: ——— Much of the analysis of the housing crash and ensuing credit panic has focused on the manic activities of…

By Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times If you suffer from a fear of flying, here’s something that might calm your nerves: The first 11 months of 2011 were the safest period for commercial…

DETROIT — Nissan gained market share in the U.S. this year despite a massive earthquake and tsunami in March that shook its headquarters in Japan and temporarily closed its plants. The devastating…

KEOKUK – A contentious lockout involving Roquette America and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 48G finally was resolved July 23 with the ratification of a four-year…

FOREST CITY, IOWA, December 15, 2011 – Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO), one of the leading United States (U.S.) recreation vehicle manufacturers, today reported financial results for the Company’s first quarter of fiscal…

BEIJING … Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation announced On December 15th, 2011 that it has received two awards for its efforts in sustainability reporting and corporate citizenship in China. The awards were…

By Tom Hudson, McClatchy Newspapers – Maybe it has been drowned out by all the holiday sales and Christmas cheer, but the U.S. job market seems to be improving. In each of the…

By Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — Briefcase in hand, Steve Allen knocks on the back door of Rose Mortuary and Crematory. He’s been on the road for two…

George C. Ford, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Jim Rogers, owner of Jim’s Instrument Manufacturing in Iowa City, is known for his ability to visualize an intricate medical instrument and all of…

Albert Lea Tribune, Minn. AUSTIN — Hormel Foods Corp. CEO, president and chairman Jeff Ettinger received a compensation package worth nearly $9 million for the 2011 fiscal year, equal to his 2010…

By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — After a near collapse at the height of the Great Recession, the streamlined U.S. auto industry defied the odds and outperformed the greater economy this…

By Robin Abcarian and Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times – DES MOINES, Iowa — With no snow on the ground in this unseasonably warm state, the only blizzard Iowans are facing is the…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times –   WASHINGTON — The new mortgage fee to fund the temporary extension of the payroll tax cut could damp the still-sluggish real estate market and complicate…

By Don Lee, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Despite the ballyhooed record retail sales over Thanksgiving, consumer spending for all of November turned out to be rather ho-hum. Personal spending overall edged…

By Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The Standard & Poor’s 500 will enjoy a merry Christmas after all. The broad blue-chip index turned positive on the year, thanks to…

Dave DeWitte, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa The Babcock and Wilcox Co. has been awarded a $43 million contract to engineer and supply a major emissions control systems for Alliant Energy’s 743-megawatt Ottumwa…

George C. Ford, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Driven by export demand, Iowa ethanol production hit a record 3.7 billion gallons this year, up 200 million gallons from 3.5 billion gallons in…

WASHINGTON – U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson today announced a $1.34 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) investment to the city of Fort Madison, Iowa to make sanitary sewer infrastructure improvements needed to…

By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Your computer’s appetite for cookies would put the Cookie Monster to shame. Without letting you know, your Internet browser gulps down hundreds of…

WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Sharis A. Pozen issued the following statements today after AT&T Inc. abandoned its proposed acquisition…

By Alejandro Lazo, Chicago Tribune – LOS ANGELES — A national real estate group sharply revised down the number of homes it calculated were sold from 2007 to 2010, revealing a much weaker housing…

By Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Commercial airline pilots will be entitled to shorter shifts and longer rests under a new set of rules issued Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration….