In Brief
CARSON CITY
State regulators stay order to suspend Siena Hotel license
Nevada gambling regulators have given a Reno casino a temporary and fragile lifeline to keep its license.
The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday approved, but then immediately stayed an order suspending the license for Siena Hotel Spa Casino for not maintaining adequate bankrolls to pay winnings to gamblers.
Under the order, the Siena must retain $230,000, or an amount determined by formula based on its casino operations, or face immediate closure by Gaming Control Board agents. Additionally, the commission ordered all casino tax and fee obligations totaling about $150,000 must be paid by July 22.
Lawyers for the Siena say they've been negotiating with owners of the Club Cal Neva to take over its casino operations under a management agreement.
NEW YORK
Homebuyers who qualified for credit get time to close deals
Homebuyers worried about closing their house purchases before the tax credit cutoff can relax after the government extended the deadline.
Congress sent President Barack Obama a plan to give homebuyers an extra three months to finish qualifying for federal tax incentives that boosted home sales this spring. The House approved the measure on Tuesday and the Senate approved it Wednesday night. Obama is expected to sign it shortly.
The legislation gives buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases and qualify for tax credits of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for existing owners who move. Under the original terms, buyers had until April 30 to get a signed sales contract and until June 30 to complete the sale.
The bill only allows people who already have signed contracts to finish at the later date. Nearly 3 million taxpayers claimed the tax credits through May 22 at a cost of more than $21 billion, according to the Treasury Department.
NEW YORK
With incentive expired, pending-home sales decline
The number of buyers who signed contracts to purchase homes tumbled in May, a sign the housing recovery can't survive without government incentives.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes dropped 30 percent in May from April. The index fell to 77.6 from 110.9. May's reading was the lowest dating back to 2001.
The index also was down 15.9 percent from the same month a year earlier.
The reading provides an early measurement of sales activity because there is usually a one- to two-month lag between a sales contract and a completed deal.
The sharp declines were widespread. Pending sales dropped by 33.3 percent in the South, by 32.1 percent in the Midwest, by 31.6 percent in the Northeast, and by 20.9 percent in the West.
WASHINGTON
Goldman Sachs exec says firm didn't regret collecting bailout
A Goldman Sachs executive told an inquiry panel Thursday that the firm had no regrets about collecting billions of dollars in taxpayer money for correctly predicting the demise of the U.S. housing market.
David Viniar, Goldman's chief financial officer, said Uncle Sam had an obligation to honor American International Group's full debts. The firm was entitled to be paid $12.9 billion out of the $182 billion bailout that went to crippled insurance giant AIG -- the largest federal rescue.
"The government stepped into AIG's shoes" and therefore had to honor its contract with Goldman, Viniar told the congressionally appointed panel investigating the financial meltdown.
Members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission couldn't understand how Goldman could take the full amount owed by AIG, knowing that the U.S. taxpayers were picking up the tab at the onset of the worst recession since the 1930s.
WASHINGTON
Treasury raises $10.5 billion from sale of Citigroup shares
The Treasury Department said Thursday it has raised $10.5 billion from the sale of a total of 2.6 billion shares of Citigroup stock it received as part of the government's rescue of the bank.
The government sold the shares at a profit as it seeks to recoup the costs of the $700 billion financial bailout in 2008.
Treasury says the latest sale of 1.1 billion shares, which figures into the total, completes its second phase of selling operations.
In the latest Citigroup sale, the stock sold for an average price per sale of around $4.03, Treasury said. That would represent a profit form the $3.25 price Treasury paid to obtain the shares.
WASHINGTON
Toyota plans to recall 270,000 vehicles with faulty engines
Toyota Motor Corp. announced today it will recall 270,000 vehicles worldwide, including luxury Lexus sedans, to fix faulty engines.
The recalled vehicles include seven Lexus models as well as the popular Crown, Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said. Of the 270,000 cars, some 180,000 were sold overseas and 90,000 in Japan.
Toyota will inform Japan's transport ministry of a recall of 90,000 vehicles on Monday, Nolasco said.
The latest quality lapse comes as the world's largest automaker scrambles to repair its reputation following the recall of 8.5 million vehicles around the globe because of problems with sticking accelerator pedals.
SAN FRANCISCO
Google to buy ITA Software in $700 million all-cash deal
Google Inc. plans to buy travel technology company ITA Software Inc. in a $700 million deal that would enable the Internet search leader to steer more of the airline reservations booked on the Web.
The all-cash deal announced Thursday signals Google's intention to challenge flight-comparison services that are ITA customers, including Kayak, FareCompare, Hotwire and Microsoft Corp.'s Bing Travel. The deal is likely to face a rigorous review by federal antitrust regulators.
"There is clearly more room for competition and innovation" in online travel, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a conference call. "We will improve the way flight information is organized."
ITA Software, a 500-employee company created in 1996 by computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sells technology that helps run the reservation systems of many airlines, including American, Southwest, Alaska and Continental. Its software also powers the tools that other travel websites use to track air fares.
MINNEAPOLIS
Unions will seek to represent workers at Delta Air Lines
Unions for thousands of flight attendants and ground workers at the old Northwest Airlines said they would seek a vote to represent those groups at Delta, taking advantage of new election rules that make it easier for them to win.
The federal rule that took effect Thursday covers airline and railroad workers. Delta Air Lines Inc. would be the biggest and most visible prize for organized labor, but union drives at other companies are expected to benefit from the new rule, too. On Thursday, the Teamsters said they filed for an election to cover 570 mechanics at Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
Under the old rule, it took votes by a majority of the entire group of workers to approve a union. That meant that workers who didn't vote counted as "no" votes. Now, unions can be voted in by a majority of workers casting ballots.
NEW YORK
Retail sales of video games, consoles dip in U.S. in May
Market researcher NPD Group says U.S. retail sales of video games dropped to $823.5 million in May, down 5 percent from a year earlier.
NPD says hardware sales plunged 20 percent to $241.5 million in May. The lower pricing of gaming consoles was a big reason for the decline. Software sales rose 4 percent, to $466.3 million.
Sales for the year through the end of May were down 10 percent compared with the same five-month period last year, NPD said.
The company said it released the report Thursday three weeks behind schedule because it was overhauling its technology system.
LOS ANGELES
To widen mobile-game market presence, Disney buys Tapulous
The Walt Disney Co. said Thursday it acquired Tapulous, the maker of the popular iPhone play-along music game Tap Tap Revenge, to bolster its ability to create mobile games and gain another toehold in Silicon Valley.
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
"It definitely is a strategic move and it highlights the importance we put on mobile," Steve Wadsworth, president of Disney Interactive Media Group, told The Associated Press.
The initial focus will be on making games for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, iPad and other emerging mobile platforms, he said.
Tapulous already has 30 million users on Apple platforms with games such as Tap Tap Revenge.
