Lithia Motors Inc. declared a 9 cents lower dividend for the third quarter of 2008 than it did in the second quarter. (LAD)

Thousands of New Mexico veterans and Social Security recipients have not claimed their economic stimulus checks, but still have time to do so.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner on Tuesday called for an overhaul of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency board.

The Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce has a new president.

A new plan to reform the nation’s surface transportation programs may make it easier for Houston to get federal funding for projects like the planned expansion of the city’s light rail system, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters said in Houston Tuesday.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate increased to 6.7 percent in July, compared with 5.5 percent a year earlier.

Nominations are being accepted through Aug. 29 for Volunteerism - The Heart of Business Awards.

The Cincinnati metro jobless rate jumped in July and remained worse than the nation’s but better than statewide figures.

Central Ohio’s unemployment rate climbed beyond 6 percent in July as the state saw its highest jobless level in more than 15 years, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Tower Automotive has laid off 55 people from its Smyrna facility, according to documents filed with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce.

Clough, Harbour & Associates is opening two new offices in two states.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

Belgian brewer InBev has received a request for additional information from the Justice Department on its $52 billion takeover of St. Louis brewing icon Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (BUD) (BUD)

Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate increased to 6.7 percent in July, compared with 5.5 percent a year earlier.

ATS Corp. has appointed Jack Tomarchio, a former Department of Homeland Security senior official, to its board of directors.

State tax revenues continue to deliver a contradictory, deceiving message, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

State tax revenues continue to deliver a contradictory, deceiving message, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

Gov. David Paterson turned to a panel of 18 economic advisers for advice on Monday, one day before state legislators address the state's growing fiscal problems. (C) (EVR)

Helicos BioSciences has appointed a new leader.

Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser and other city officials met with American Airlines officials and those of one of its unions Monday morning to discuss the company’s plan to cut employees and operations at its Kansas City aircraft overhaul plant. (AMR)

The Air Transport Association of Amerca is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

A $3 million 270,000-square-foot Small Business Hub is open for business.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

Monica Doss, the longtime president of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development who stepped down earlier this year, has been named director of the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac program.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year.

United Parcel Service Inc. has expanded its on-call pick-up service for air packages. (UPS)

State economists said they expect Hawaii’s economy to experience moderate but slower growth this year and in 2009.

The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that Labor Day travel will drop by 5.7 percent this year. The group estimates that 16 million paying passengers will fly globally on U.S. airlines between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3.

A federal grant will help the town of Hagerman gain 20 new jobs.

Two Buffalo representatives have been selected to sit on Gov. David Paterson's Council of Economic Advisors that will offer the governor insight on how to deal with New York's looming fiscal crisis.

Gov. Deval Patrick approved a record amount of spending on road and bridge projects last year, according to a press release from his office.

Springfield Township was a booming residential community in the 1950s. The city of Silverton was a shopping mecca for northern Cincinnatians.

We never cease to be amazed by democracy in action, although we must be clear that the alternative is not what we’re suggesting. But we do yearn for governance that doesn’t waste people’s and organizations’ precious time, talents and treasures.

Recycling Express Inc., a Cincinnati wastepaper processor, is building a new facility in Boone County and plans to relocate from its current warehouse site in Bond Hill early next year.

Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC President Ed Sheehy and Bob Moore, vice president and general manager of vehicle processing in Jacksonville, discuss what's new for their local operations and trends in the industry in an interview with Staff Writer Mark Szakonyi. Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC, which is the largest distributor of Toyotas and Scions, distributes vehicles, parts and accessories to 172 Toyota dealerships in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The following are edited excerpts of the interview:

JACKSONVILLE -- The effect on businesses of a state constitutional amendment cutting property owners' taxes by 25 percent isn't known, but business groups doubt it will be positive.

Sandy Hays Mies is pretty busy these days.

New York's highways are among the five worst-rated road systems in the country, says a new study.

Death and taxes may be the only things certain in this world, but at least Florida's state and local tax burden is easier to carry to the grave than in most areas -- and that's good for attracting new business.

The Mid-South Minority Business Council's 2008 Economic Development Fair is boasting a lineup of some of the top CEOs in the city.

Because biomedical research is a powerful economic engine in St. Louis, funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a far-reaching impact.

It was the late 1980s and Richard Florida had just moved to Washington. He didn’t know the city very well and got lost driving to a party near Dupont Circle. It was a crime-ridden neighborhood — D.C. was notorious at the time for being the nation’s murder capital — and he had no idea how to get out.

Operating since 1968 in a little building on Route 1 near Quantico, the Globe and Laurel restaurant became something of an unofficial shrine to the strength of the Marine Corps and the dedication of law enforcement. Shadow boxes packed with Marine memorabilia — a canteen carried at Saipan, a Medal of Honor — lined the dark, panelled walls. Patches put up by law enforcement officers from across the country plastered the ceiling.

When Keith Parker took the helm of the Charlotte Area Transit System in December, Charlotte’s light-rail system had just started operating.

Hotels proposed for Greenfield A plan for two hotels, with up to a total of 300 rooms, at West Layton Avenue and South 108th Street in Greenfield has been proposed to the Greenfield Plan Commission,

An S.C. political squabble over recruiting strategy may be cooling the Charlotte-area border battle.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. will nearly triple the size of its Kansas City distribution center, but it hasn’t grown out of the East Bottoms.

The trucking industry is showing signs of life, but YRC Worldwide Inc. has yet to see the spark.

Work is ready to begin on a project designed to set the stage for more activity in Kansas City’s 18th & Vine Historic Jazz District.

In our latest unscientific Web survey, we asked:

Desire for a streetcar line seems to grow by the day.

With rising gas prices and a week consumer appetite for big vehicles, Nashville's domestic car dealerships are being weeded out and pared down.

KPMG, a major accounting and consulting firm, recently released a new study of the total tax burdens facing companies in 102 cities throughout 10 countries. The study analyzed corporate income taxes, capital taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, local business taxes and statutory labor costs.

Alabama Power Co. CEO Charles McCrary is pressing Central Alabama’s business advocates to consolidate under one roof to streamline shared agendas and maximize revenues.

RALEIGH – A major pharmaceutical company and a silicone products manufacturer that had considered locating separate multimillion-dollar projects in the Triangle region have instead chosen sites in competing states.

This feature contains responses from industry professionals to questions posed by Business First.

San Francisco’s streets are warped and cratering. Dilapidated stretches of local highways rattle speeding trucks. The Port of Oakland’s rail system suffers from bottlenecks and transit systems struggle with outdated stations and equipment.

Stoking the engine of high-speed rail service in California may be easier said than done.

Every day, ships bring thousands of cargo containers to the Port of Oakland where they are transferred to either trucks or trains and slip quickly from view.

Business parks that started out as job centers for far-flung East Bay populations are adapting to a more crowded suburban environment by increasing retail and dining options, going vertical and even adding housing.

After dark along State Highway 225, petrochemical plants are lit up like Christmas trees. On postcards, the city’s towering office buildings may symbolize Houston, but the hard-hat area east of downtown in the industrial heartland is Houston’s bread and butter.

Massachusetts and Israel have a number of long-established business and research partnerships, but now area clean-technology leaders are looking to leverage the relationship to boost the cluster’s international profile.

Franklin County plans to help two Columbus developers land a Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant from the state so they can continue to develop the Gowdy Landfill site off Route 315.

Georgia business owners may be the next to feel the sting of a looming $1.6 billion state budget shortfall that is already hitting homeowners and state employees.

If we can’t get Doyle Drive fixed, what are the prospects for seriously addressing the rest of our infrastructure crisis?

Columbus City Councilman Hearcel Craig kept coming back to two statistics as he explained why he was trying to find more ways for city government to help minority-owned firms and small businesses.

I spend a lot of time trying to understand the economy of the region, and lately there has been no shortage of contradictory indicators.

There is no doubt that Americans are facing difficult economic times. The rising cost of fuel, food and raw materials is forcing everyone to make tough choices.