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Whether saving for an MP3 player or college, the importance of putting money aside will be stressed by M&T Bank volunteers April 29 to young students at schools in three states.

Bank employees will join thousands of counterparts that day in visiting schools across the country as part of the American Bankers Association Education Foundation’s National Teach Children to Save Day, which was established in 1997.

"A recent national survey by the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy shows that our high school students get failing grades when it comes to understanding money," M&T Bank President Mark Czarnecki said in a prepared statement.

"Introducing some basic money concepts, such as the importance of saving, to elementary school kids is a good place to start building these basic skills," he said.

M&T volunteers will talk to students at 19 schools, including Westminster Community Charter School in Buffalo http://paydayintime.com.

Other schools are in Rochester and Highland in New York, and Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The volunteers will stress:

• Make saving visible — putting change in a jar helps introduce the concept of saving.
• Check the local library or bookstore for children’s books that teach financial concepts.
• Help children open their own bank savings accounts and make deposits regularly. Many banks have no-fee, no-minimum balance-required children’s accounts.
• Talk to your children about budgeting and help them budget before an outing or purchase.
• Teach children how an ATM machine works and explain that you have to put money into a bank before taking it out.

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Harley-Davidson Inc.'s chief executive officer James Ziemer told attendees of the company's annual shareholders meeting Saturday morning that he "agonized" about the recent decision to cut the company¹s work force by about 730 employees.

"Excruciating is the word," Ziemer told a gathering of several hundred shareholders who attended the meeting at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. "Make no mistake, I agonized over this decision. In fact, it was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make."

The Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer announced April 17 that it planned cut motorcycle production and slash 370 hourly production workers and 360 non-production employees over the next several months as a result because the sluggish U.S. economy has slowed demand for the company's products.

"The erosion of consumer confidence in this country has lasted longer and runs deeper than most economists predicted," Ziemer told shareholders. "Very few businesses have escaped the impact and the entire motorcycle industry has been affected."

Ziemer said it's "undisputable" that the economic slowdown in the United States has affected retail sales for Harley-Davidson's dealers payday loan cash advance loan paydayloans.

Harley plans to ship 23,000 to 27,000 fewer motorcycles in 2008 than in 2007, resulting in total planned 2008 shipments of between 303,500 and 307,500 units.

"Our decision to reduce our motorcycle shipments and our work force was driven by what our dealers have been experiencing at retail along with the continuing turmoil in the economy," Ziemer said. "I believe the actions we are taking are the right actions. We have an obligation to our dealers as well as all of our other stakeholders to manage Harley-Davidson for the long term and that's what we are doing in this situation."

First-quarter net income for Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) slid 2.5 percent to $187.6 million compared with $192.3 million for the same period a year ago.

Earnings per share in the quarter were 79 cents, a 6.8 percent increase compared with 74 cents for the year-ago period. Per-share results rose because of stock repurchases.

Revenue for the quarter was $1.31 billion, compared to $1.18 billion in the year-ago quarter, a 10.8 percent increase.

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Sea Life Park has been sold to a Spanish entertainment company that owns zoos, aquariums and water parks around the world.

The park, just outside Waimanalo on the Windward side of Oahu, was sold by Dolphin Discovery, the Cancun-Mexico-based company that has owned it since January 2005.

Madrid-based Parques Reunidos Group bought the 22-acre park for a price that was not publicly disclosed in the announcement made late Thursday. The buyer said it didn’t plan to make any personnel changes and that the park’s manager, Jesus Bravo, will stay on.

Sea Life Park is Hawaii’s 17th most-visited attraction, according to PBN research. The park, which employs about 200 people, had about 300,000 visitors last year.

Parques Reunidos owns the largest collection of dolphins and marine mammals in Europe and operates the Madrid Zoo, Marineland in France, L’Oceanographic Marine Park in Spain and attractions in Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom and the U.S payday loan online. The company recently bought Palace Entertainment, the largest owner and operator of water parks in the U.S.

Jose Diaz, managing director of the company, said Parques Reunidos will invest more money in Sea Life Park for its "continued improvement."

"Our goal is to refine and elevate Sea Life Park’s reputation as a world-class attraction where visitors and residents alike can discover and enjoy the wonders of Hawaii’s vibrant marine life," he said in a statement.

On the Web:

www.parquesreunidos.com

www.dolphindiscovery.com

www.sealifeparkhawaii.com

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NB&T Financial Group, the parent of the National Bank and Trust Co. in Wilmington, managed to stay on an even keel for the first quarter, at a time when much bigger banks are feeling the pain of loan losses.

The bank posted first-quarter net income of $1 million, or 32 cents per share, little changed from first-quarter 2007, NB&T said in a news release. Net interest income was $4.5 million, a $72,000 increase year over year, while net interest margin rose to 3.73 percent from 3.55 percent.

"Overall, we are pleased with the results for the quarter," said John Limbert, president and CEO, in a news release. "We would like to see more loan growth, but we are not sacrificing quality for growth, especially when the economy may be in recession."

The first-quarter provision for loan losses was $95,000, compared to $5,000 in the year-ago quarter fastcash. Net charge-offs rose slightly, to $155,000 or 0.18 percent of total loans, compared to $154,000, or 0.15 percent of total loans, in the year-ago quarter. Nonperforming loans fell to $3.3 million versus $9.5 million a year ago.

NB&T, (NASDAQ: NBTF) headquartered in Wilmington, operates 17 banking offices in Clinton, Clermont, Brown, Warren, and Highland counties.

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Venture capital investment in Colorado companies rose to a seven-year high in the first quarter of 2007, according to the MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, released Saturday.

Another major VC report, the Quarterly Venture Capital Report by Dow Jones VentureSource, also released Saturday, showed a 145 percent surge in Colorado VC investment during the quarter.

According to MoneyTree, a total of $297.7 million was invested in 26 companies in the first quarter, the highest level since 2001.

The success of the quarter owed a lot to a $130 million investment in Range Fuels Inc. of Broomfield, a biotechnology company involved in cellulose ethanol production technology.

But the other 25 deals together brought in far more than the $100.4 million that was invested in 13 companies in the first quarter of 2007, according to MoneyTree data published last year.

"The funding of Range Fuels Inc. represents an exciting trend for the state," Bob Puls, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denver, said in a statement. "This, along with ConocoPhillips' announcement of the creation of a Louisville-based facility devoted to the advancement of renewable energy technology, emphasize Colorado¹s presence in the clean tech/alternative energy industries nationwide. There is also a healthy diversification for the Denver-Boulder corridor, which has long been dominated by the data storage and software industries."

The medical devices and equipment industry had a strong quarter, with five companies receiving nearly $91 million faxless payday loans. Although software industry funding declined, nine software companies — many in early or expansion stages — received funding, Puls said.

Noteworthy deals mentioned in MoneyTree and/or the Quarterly Venture Capital Report included:

• Range Fuels Inc., $130 million
• Taligen Therapeutics of Aurora, a biotechnology company, $65 million
• SomaLogic Inc. of Boulder, a medical device maker, $35 million
• Lanx LLC of Broomfield, a medical device maker, $25 million
• IntelliDx of Boulder, a medical device maker, $21.5 million
• Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy Inc. of Boulder, a retailer, $12 million
• Tendril Networks Inc. of Boulder, telecommunications, $12 million.

Nationally, venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in 922 deals in the first quarter, down 8.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007. Despite the decline, the quarter was within recent quarterly investment levels, and was the fifth-highest quarter since 2001, according to MoneyTree, which bases its results on data obtained from Thomson Reuters.

Meanwhile, according to the Dow Jones VentureSource report, total of nearly $260 million was invested in 13 Colorado companies in the first quarter, up from $106 million in 11 companies in the same quarter a year earlier.

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Nearly three weeks after voting against moving the Sauvie Island Bridge to the Pearl District, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman said today he backs a follow-up relocation proposal.

Saltzman and Commissioner Sam Adams have devised a new plan that would require all funding to be in place before issuing contracts for the project. The proposal would also require formal bids for the project's construction and guarantee a maximum price for services related to the bridge's relocation.

Portland's City Council had voted against relocating the bridge south from Sauvie Island to Northwest Flanders Street, where it would provide a pedestrian and bike span across Interstate 405. Saltzman had opposed the measure because it didn't call for competitive bidding. The contract would have gone to the company that currently owns the bridge payday advance.

"We are a city of bridges and this proposal is consistent with that heritage. I look forward to seeing this bridge become Portland's next landmark," said Saltzman in a statement.

Saltzman said before the vote that he supported the notion in concept.

"This project is a great reuse of a historic bridge that will provide enhanced safety for bicyclists and pedestrians," he said. "But I was not comfortable with approving the largest no-bid contract in the city's history without examining the options to lower the price through a competitive bidding process."

Mayor Tom Potter also opposed the measure, which, because of its emergency status, required a unanimous vote.

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The master plan for Honolulu's Ward Centers could include up to 4,300 residential units along with retail and commercial space.

General Growth Properties presented its final 20-year master plan for the 60-acre property in Kakaako to the Hawaii Community Development Authority on Wednesday. The developer unveiled its preliminary plan for the Ward properties back in February, saying it wanted to develop the area into a leafy urban neighborhood of homes, shops and restaurants.

The final 136-page plan gives a more detailed description of General Growth's vision for a live-work-play neighborhood with green space and public plazas. The state agency has 200 days to review the proposal.

The residential component would include housing for mixed-income levels, with some 800 units reserved for families with moderate income of 140 percent above the median for Honolulu.

Several high-rise towers are planned, which could be residential or commercial depending on the market, said Jan Yokota, General Growth's vice president of development for the Hawaii region.

The number of residential units is the maximum that would be built; the actual number would change according to market conditions, she said. If the HCDA approves the plan, construction on the first phase could start as soon as 2010, she said.

"If the market conditions are right then we would start designing the first phase, which would take a couple of years, then build out the first phase, which would take two to three years," she said instant cash advance.

The first phase would include part of a large central plaza, along with some retail and residential units. The location for the first phase would very likely be the site of the Ward Farmer's Market and the warehouses behind it.

The plan calls for an eventual mauka-makai corridor that would open up views to Kewalo Basin. The old structures on the land can be replaced with public parks to create new views for the new residential towers, Yokota said.

"Ward today is a mixture of older buildings that occupy land that could better serve the community as a new urban neighborhood with open spaces and plazas," she said. "The residential towers will be designed to enhance views of the mountains and sea while also creating new open spaces where people can enjoy the outdoor environment."

Auahi Street would be redeveloped into a leafy, tree-lined pedestrian-friendly boulevard lined with shops, restaurants, entertainment and homes. The plan also calls for a minimum of 9,600 parking spaces, but Yokota said feedback the company has received during community meetings indicates people are warming to the idea of living in an urban neighborhood where a car may not be necessary.

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The proposed merger between Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines brings new uncertainty to Hawaii's air-dependent tourism business.

Northwest is the fourth largest airline serving Hawaii and carried about 840,000 passengers to the state last year. Based in Minnesota, the airline dominates the Midwest and also offers flights to West Coast cities including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In addition, Northwest has the second most flights between Hawaii and Japan and flew about 350,000 international passengers last year, second only to Japan Air Lines.

Based in Atlanta, Delta is the sixth largest carrier serving Hawaii.

Together, the airlines carried 1.55 million passengers to Hawaii last year. Delta offers five daily roundtrips to Oahu and two to Maui; Northwest has six domestic roundtrips and three international roundtrips daily to Oahu.

Airline industry analysts say they expect the airlines to try to cut $1 billion in annual costs to make the merger work and those cuts will likely come by trimming staff and reducing service on duplicated routes quick payday loan.

Both airlines offer service from Hawaii to and from San Francisco and Los Angeles, potentially meaning more air capacity will be lost from California, where the shutdowns of Aloha and ATA airlines have already cost thousands of seats.

There's also uncertainty about how the airlines' two frequent flyer programs — Delta's SkyMiles and Northwest's WorldPerks — will be merged. The programs, popular with travelers to Hawaii, are significantly different and the merger could make it more difficult for customers to earn and redeem miles for free trips.

And there is already significant opposition to the merger by some unions, suggesting a more unsettled summer for travel. Northwest's 5,000 pilots oppose the deal as does the International Association of Machinists, representing 12,500 Northwest ground employees.

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Hospitals and HMOs in Colorado enjoyed healthy profits in 2006 and the first half of 2007, according to a report that studies managed care trends and issues in the state.

According to the Colorado Managed Care Review 2007, released Friday by Minnesota-based health care analyst Allan Baumgarten, hospitals in the Denver area reported a net income of $475 million in 2006 — or 9 percent of net patient revenues.

Meanwhile, Colorado HMOs posted a net income of $171.9 million — a profit margin on underwriting revenues of 4.6 percent. Net income for HMOs in 2005 was $73.6 million, or 2.1 percent of underwriting revenues.

Among local hospitals, HealthOne-HCA reported profits of $283.7 million in 2006 or 14.1 percent of net patient revenue. Metro Denver's largest health system, HealthOne-HCA owns and operates seven hospitals in the area,

Two nonprofit health systems serving the area, Centura Health and Exempla Healthcare, also fared well in 2006.

Centura, which operates Saint Anthony Central in Denver and five others in the metro area, reported net income of $55 million — or 6.2 percent of net patient revenues.

Exempla, which manages Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver as well as medical centers in Wheat Ridge and Lafayette, collected net revenues of $60.2 million or 7.4 percent of net patient revenues freecreditscore.

The survey showed that HMOs in the state posted record profits in 2006 and the first half of 2007, despite declining enrollment.

Among local HMOs, Kaiser Permanente reported the largest revenues in the state with $1.8 billion in 2006 and a net income of $49 million.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's HMO Colorado posted $221.6 million in revenue with a net income of $16.4 million.

Enrollment in all Colorado HMOs fell to 972,908 in 2006 — down 5.6 percent from the previous year. Baumgarten blames the downward enrollment trend on more employers dropping coverage as health coverage becomes more expensive.

Baumgarten attributed the increased profitability among the insurers to a consolidation within the industry because fewer insurance companies in the market gives insurers the upper hand in negotiating favorable charges with hospitals.

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A measure to extend the mandatory retirement age for Hawaii’s state court judges is moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Senate Bill 3202 amends the state Constitution by changing the mandatory retirement age from 70 to 80 years for newly appointed judges.

The measure passed through its final hearings in the House and was sent back to the Senate on Thursday.

The measure is now headed into conference, where appointed members from the House and Senate will negotiate the bill’s final language freecreditreport.

If approved, it will be put on the ballot for voters to decide in November. Hawaii voters defeated a similar measure two years ago.

The new proposal would apply only to judges appointed after Nov. 5.

The Judicial Selection Commission testified against the measure, while the Department of the Attorney General and the Hawaii Government Employees Association supported it.

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