Business & Technology

By MARY BETH MCLAUGHLIN
Monday, November 20, 2006
Automated teller machines revolutionized the banking business when they were introduced nearly 40 years ago, but today's customers are proving to be fickle.

A growing reliance on debit cards for such everyday purchases as a fast-food lunch, coupled with the ease of online banking to track balances, means use of the machines in dollar terms has declined locally and nationally.

But rather than abandon the machines, banks are seeking new places for them and are experimenting with sophisticated equipment to make transactions easier.

"People still want them and they still want them where they need them," said Paul Meinerding, senior vice president of KeyBank in Toledo.

By MARVIN WALBERG
Monday, November 20, 2006
Dear Mr. Walberg:

I worked for my previous employer for six years and always received regular, generous raises, and never received any negative comments regarding my work, demeanor, or ability to contribute to my team.

Early this year, I had to go on FMLA, family leave, to care for my daughter who was diagnosed with colon cancer.

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.

By RICHARD WILLIAMSON
Monday, November 20, 2006

2007 CHRYSLER ASPEN LIMITED

TYPE: 4-wheel-drive, seven-passenger, four-door sport utility vehicle.

PRICE: $33,520 base ($30,668 invoice

By RICHARD WILLIAMSON
Thursday, November 16, 2006
At Chrysler, design is destiny.

Lacking the quality reputation of Toyota or the market share of General Motors, the smallest member of the traditional Big Three, has sought to dazzle the world with breakthrough designs on cars such as the retro PT Cruiser, the cunning Crossfire and the dramatic 300 full-size sedan.

Thus, stylists had to come up with something pretty keen for the introduction of the first sport utility vehicle to bear the Chrysler nameplate.

By SUE STOCK
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Through the course of this experiment, I got 90 e-mail messages, 45 letters and a couple of boxes of samples.

Companies that responded in a timely, personal manner made me feel good about the company.

By SUE STOCK
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
For me, coupons are a way of life. I clip them, file them and use them to save. I swap extras with friends, print coupons online and look forward to the Sunday paper all week long.

On a really good week, I can save as much as 70 percent on my grocery bill.

And I'm always looking for ways to save more.

By HOLDEN LEWIS
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
In the next couple of years, a combination of rising mortgage interest rates and falling home values could plunge thousands of homeowners underwater.

Being underwater means owing more than the house is worth.

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.

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.