IN BRIEF
CARSON CITY
Insurance commissioner plans to leave her post
Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman is stepping down after a long regulatory career that included approval in 2007 of a $2.6 billion deal involving Nevada's largest health insurer -- a deal that troubled Gov. Jim Gibbons.
Molasky-Arman, retiring in September, was named commissioner in 1995 and has served under three governors. She's the longest-serving insurance commissioner in state history. A replacement will be named following a national search.
During her tenure, Molasky-Arman oversaw the transformation of Nevada's bankrupt industrial insurance system into a private mutual insurer and eventually a publicly traded stock company. She also formed an insurance association that helped doctors during a medical malpractice insurance crisis, and set up programs to fight insurance fraud.
Bank account scheme revealed by authorities
A Nye County sheriff's investigator says authorities have uncovered a scheme involving 11 people in California and Nevada who allegedly siphoned money out of business bank accounts.
Sheriff's Detective David Boruchowitz says it looks like one woman, Mercedes Yvon Moore, 24, of Las Vegas, worked at a bank and gave account information to a ringleader who lived in Las Vegas and Compton, Calif.
That woman, Talila Chyna Rodgers, 21, allegedly enlisted others to loot bank accounts from firms in California, Florida, Texas, New York and other states.
So far, one Nevada woman has been arrested. Maria Walker, 27, of Las Vegas, was taken into custody April 4 and released on unspecified bond pending a June 16 date in Pahrump Justice Court.
PHOENIX
Arizona: Feds shouldn't reconsider power line
Arizona regulators who refused to allow a California utility company build a power line from Phoenix to Palm Springs, Calif., last year now hope federal officials won't even consider overriding their decision.
The Arizona Corporation Commission said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shouldn't even let Southern California Edison formally apply for FERC permission to build the line.
The Edison International subsidiary says the line is needed to reduce congestion in the Arizona-California-Nevada energy corridor while allowing utilities to improve access to power supplies, including electricity from renewable sources.
Panel recommends plans for resort
Backers of a proposed 61-story hotel near the intersection of Charleston Boulevard and Grand Central Parkway in downtown Las Vegas got a boost from the city's planning commission.
The commission on Thursday approved four items developers need to market the proposed hotel to investors.
The proposal, referred to in one listing as the Grand Central Hotel, would cover about 2 million square feet and draw customers from the nearby World Market Center and other projects.
The vote by the planning commission advances the proposal to the City Council.
CLEVELAND
Goodyear posts profits, reversing year-ago loss
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Friday that it swung to a profit in the first quarter by focusing on higher-priced tires.
Goodyear said it earned $147 million, or 60 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, reversing a loss of $174 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.
Sales rose 9.8 percent to $4.94 billion from $4.5 billion.
NEW YORK
Traders speculate about Fed; Treasurys decline
Treasury prices slid Friday as investors bet that the Federal Reserve will signal next week that it will end its string of interest rate cuts.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.31 points to 97.03 and yielded 3.87 percent, up from 3.82 percent late Thursday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
