Business & Economy
Popularity of bail bond agent business soars
By GARY T. PAKULSKI
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Bail bond agent Mary Frances Smith had a bad feeling about the drug suspect.
But it was Christmas. And the man's mother wanted him home for the holidays.
So Smith, 44, agreed to cover the $25,000 bond needed to spring him from jail two years ago.
Media firms increasingly consider going private
By DALE KASLER
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The stock market has been setting records lately, but some newspaper publishers and other big media companies want no part of Wall Street.
Saddled with sluggish profits and stock prices, facing an uncertain future as they try to compete against the Internet for consumers and advertisers, mainstream media titans such as Tribune Co.
California battles the automakers
By SHAWN MCCARTHY
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Ken Austin sells Hummers a few miles from the California state capitol building where legislators enacted greenhouse gas emission standards that the auto industry argues will drive gas-guzzling SUVs out of the California market.
But he's more worried about an economic slowdown biting into sales than the controversial emission standards that the car makers and some of his fellow dealers are challenging in federal court.
"Manufacturers will always adjust," he said, noting that the new silver H3 mid-sized model in his showroom will achieve 20 miles per gallon on the highway, as required by state law.
Businesses strive to help shoppers with kids
By JOHN HOLLAND
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Three-year-old Kevin Creed went looking for trouble in a Sears store in Idaho nearly 50 years ago.
He dashed away from his older brother, climbed onto a mannequin stand and ducked under the skirt on display.
"As I rounded the corner," recalled his mother, Merry Creed, now of Sonora, Calif., "all I could see were these two little legs in jeans, sticking out from the mannequin's skirt.
Patent issues
By BRUCE FREEMAN
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Q. I am a small business owner and just received a U.S. patent on an invention and have registered my trademark. If I do business overseas, is my U.S.
Crocs' popularity fuels rapid expansion
By JANET FORGRIEVE
Sunday, November 12, 2006
In a business park tucked between wide open spaces, a homegrown shoemaker has been playing musical buildings.
Crocs Inc. opened its office in the park in 2004 with a bit of space in one building.
Minnesota grocer contests Wal-Mart's trademark bid
By CHRIS SERRES
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Four letters are causing a stir among some of the country's largest grocery chains.
Supervalu Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn. and the National Grocers Association are fighting efforts by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Insurance companies enjoy hurricane-free year
By THOMAS LEE
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
FOR BIZ SKED
So much for Katrina, the sequel.
After suffering through the most destructive hurricane season on record in 2005, insurance companies braced themselves for another tough year in the Gulf Coast region.
Dreamers find plethora of franchise possibilities
By DARRELL SMITH
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
There was doggie day care and fast-food fondue. There was something called Monkey Joe's play centers and Maggie Moo's treateries, whose ice cream claims to be so fresh, it moos.
If you want to own a piece of it, chances are someone had it here at the West Coast Franchise Expo, a buyer's bazaar of everything franchiseable.
Consumers cry foul on expensive basketball shoes
By TRISHA EVANS
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Parents and players alike are calling foul on the inflated price of basketball shoes.
If you haven't been shoe shopping in a while, you're probably lucky.
