The fragile economy improved slightly at the beginning of the year and could grow a bit stronger in the current quarter as extra cash from tax rebates spurs people to buy more. Still, it’s not out of danger yet.

The Federal Reserve decided on Wednesday to leave a key interest rate unchanged and cited a heightened risk of inflation, which could lead to rate increases down the road. Private analysts said the Fed may delay the first rate hike until December.

RICHMOND — Several business, government and consumer groups that would be affected by Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed 18 percent rate increase endorsed the request at a State Corporation Commission hearing Tuesday.

In early America, the undisputed beverage of choice was hard apple cider — even more so than water.

A weekly listing of property transfers and building permits in and around Charlottesville.

Since 1997 the Consumer Price Index has manipulated the raw data and significantly underreported inflation. This tactic has saved the government hundreds of billions of dollars. Entitlement program recipients find their benefits reduced every year. And middle-class taxpayers are pushed automatically into ever-higher tax brackets.

With a day’s worth of bottled water - the recommended 64 ounces - costing hundreds to thousands of dollars a year depending on the brand, more people are opting to slurp water that comes straight from the sink.

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Local business announcements

Local business announcements.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Two former Bear Stearns managers have been arrested, federal authorities said Thursday, becoming the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

A steady whoosh of 1,300-degree flames engulfed the weathered drum and its contents, the ingredients for what the scientist called “super clean” coal.  “What we’re doing is taking the coal apart and putting it back better than it was naturally,“ Richard Wolfe told his audience of four coal industry insiders who met with him on a recent Saturday in a dusty barn in Lebanon, Va.

Recently I watched the 1997 movie “Conspiracy Theory” starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts. Before the opening credits have finished rolling, we understand that Gibson’s character is a crackpot cab driver who sees conspiracies everywhere. But our perception changes by the end of the film when we realize for ourselves that some of his theories are true

Local business announcements.

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Local business announcements

A weekly listing of property transfers in and around Charlottesville.

Whole Foods’ plans for a massive new store with a three-level parking garage would remake the Hydraulic Road corridor in Charlottesville and potentially spur more development there.

The stress from deepening debt is becoming a major pain in the neck — and the back and the head and the stomach — for millions of Americans.

Leadership development training also provides participants with a big-picture view of company operations. That is an increasingly critical need now because many companies have eliminated a large number of general management positions during the past decade.

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Local business announcements

Imagine you knew you were going to die peacefully in your sleep at the end of your 100th year. Becoming a centenarian is more common these days, and it’s a much safer assumption than using average longevity. Half the people live longer than average, and a significant percentage live much longer. So our best case scenario is not just a fantasy.

Local business announcements.

A weekly listing of property transfers in and around Charlottesville.

The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May — the biggest monthly rise since 1986 — as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs.

Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis’ mounting damage to homeowners and the economy.

Continental Airlines said Thursday it is cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing capacity by 11 percent, citing record fuel costs that have pushed the industry into its worst crisis since 2001. It also said its two top executives will forgo pay for the rest of the year.
The job cuts represent about 6.5 percent of the company’s work force of 45,000.

A pioneer of Virginia’s wine industry announced Wednesday that she is retiring after 25 years and closing her Albemarle County winery.

A jury improperly awarded $16 million to an inner-city grocer who claimed grocery giant Supervalu Inc. sabotaged his efforts to expand and forced him out of business, a lawyer for the large chain told the Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday.