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Horizon Lines, Inc. said Wednesday that it placed six employees on administrative leave amid a federal investigation into allegations of price fixing on shipping routes to Puerto Rico.

Two of the employees resigned, the Charlotte, N.C.-based shipping company said in a statement. Horizon is Hawaii’s second largest ocean-shipping company.

On April 17, federal authorities entered the offices of Horizon and other shippers with search warrants and grand jury subpoenas relating to an investigation of pricing practices on Puerto Rico routes. Horizon Chief Executive Chuck Raymond has emphasized that neither the company nor any employees have been charged in the investigation easy quick payday loans no checking account payday advance.

"The company continues to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice in its investigation," Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ) said in the statement on Wednesday.

Four federal lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed by customers who paid for shipping on Horizon, Sea Star Line, Crowley Maritime Corp. and Trailer Bridge Inc. The lawsuits, three in Florida and one in Puerto Rico, allege the shipping lines conspired for the last four years to fix prices on trade routes to Puerto Rico.

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Quality Restaurants Northwest Inc. has closed four local Chili’s Grill & Bar locations, putting as many as 480 people out of work.

Parent company Brinker International Inc., (NYSE: EAT) confirmed that four of Oregon’s six Chili’s locations have closed. The company will step in to take over two remaining franchised locations, at Clackamas Town Center and in Eugene, according to Maureen Locus, a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based restaurant company.

Chili’s locations in Beaverton and Hillsboro closed on Monday and two more are closing today. Locus declined to speculate on the reason for the closures and to speculate if Quality Restaurants faced financial difficulties. She didn’t know how many people were employed at the Quality restaurants, but a typical Brinker-run Chili’s employs 100 to 120 people.

Representatives of Quality Restaurants could not be reached for comment.

In addition to Chili’s, Brinker operates and franchises the Romano’s Macaroni Grill, On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina and Maggiano’s Little Italy chains of restaurants credit scores payday loans.

In March, it reported a first quarter loss of nearly $39 million on revenue of $907.6 million, down from a $54.6 million profit in the same period in 2007, on revenue of $944 million. It cited $56.5 million in charges from discontinued operations for its first quarter performance.

The company is attempting to sell its Romano’s line of restaurants. Vancouver, Wash.-based Waterloo Restaurant Ventures operates a dozen Northwest editions of the Macaroni Grill concept, in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Boise, Idaho.

Barry McGowan, president and chief executive officer of Waterloo, said his company won’t be affected by the change in ownership.

"We think the sale of the brand is good news," he said.

Brinker stock was trading at $20.13 after hours, up 38 cents.

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Small business owners’ confidence in the economy has hit a five-year low, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index (Index) survey conducted in April.

The index score fell to 48, the lowest level reported since the survey started in August 2003, when the score was 69. The results mark a 35-point drop from the previous survey in January 2008 and a 66-point drop from the Index’s highest score of 114 in December 2006.

"The nearly 50 percent drop in the index clearly reflects the intensified financial pressures small business owners have felt over the last three months," said Scott Anderson, Wells Fargo senior economist free credit report instantly pay day loan. "The decline in both the present situation and future expectations components doesn’t bode well for a swift recovery in small business conditions. However, as consumers begin to receive — and spend — their economic stimulus checks, this should soon begin easing the blow to small businesses in the third quarter of this year."

The Index score is compiled from small business owners’ views on their financial situation, cash flow, revenues, capital allocation, job hiring and credit availability.

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Small business owners’ confidence in the economy has hit a five-year low, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index (Index) survey conducted in April.

The index score fell to 48, the lowest level reported since the survey started in August 2003, when the score was 69. The results mark a 35-point drop from the previous survey in January 2008 and a 66-point drop from the Index’s highest score of 114 in December 2006.

"The nearly 50 percent drop in the index clearly reflects the intensified financial pressures small business owners have felt over the last three months," said Scott Anderson, Wells Fargo senior economist cash advance online payday loan. "The decline in both the present situation and future expectations components doesn’t bode well for a swift recovery in small business conditions. However, as consumers begin to receive — and spend — their economic stimulus checks, this should soon begin easing the blow to small businesses in the third quarter of this year."

The Index score is compiled from small business owners’ views on their financial situation, cash flow, revenues, capital allocation, job hiring and credit availability.

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Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon for James Griffin, the former four-term mayor of Buffalo who died May 25 at the age of 78.

Griffin, who had been ill for the past several weeks, died at Father Baker Manor in Orchard Park.

He took office in Buffalo Jan. 1, 1978, winning the job on the Conservative Party line and beginning a legacy marked by accomplishments but not without controversy. Griffin’s largest successes are downtown, most notably what is now Dunn Tire Park, home of the Buffalo Bisons and a franchise that he helped resurrect.

His tenure also included an FBI investigation involving the city’s parks’ department.

A Korean War veteran, Griffin served on the city council, starting in the 1960s and then returning a few years ago before giving up his South Buffalo seat in mid-term payday advances instant payday loan. He served multiple terms in the New York State Senate prior to his years in City Hall.

The feisty Griffin also made unsuccessful runs for Erie County Executive and the White House.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret, and three children — Maureen, Megan and Thomas, as well as brothers Thomas and Joseph, and a sister, Donna Gasuik.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery.

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U.K. home values fell for an eighth month in May and will probably drop further, Hometrack Ltd. said.

The average cost of a residential property in England and Wales slipped 0.5 percent to 172,200 pounds ($341,000), the London-based research company said today in a statement. Prices fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest decline since November 2005.

“The `buyers' strike' continues,'' said Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, in a statement. “Pricing looks set to remain under downward pressure over the coming months.''

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King predicted this month that property values are “likely to fall further'' and said there is a risk that the U.K. economy may contract. The construction industry dragged down economic growth to the slowest pace since 2005 in the first quarter and homebuilders are cutting tens of thousands of jobs.

The percentage of sellers' asking prices being achieved slipped to 92.3 percent this month, the lowest since the survey began in 2001, Hometrack said today. Average time on the market increased to 9.8 weeks from 5.8 weeks a year ago.

“The fall in buyer confidence over the last six months has certainly impacted on transaction volumes but we do not believe this is a precursor to a major rise in forced sales and large prices falls,'' Donnell said first cash advance payday loans online.

End of the Boom

HBOS Plc, the U.K.'s biggest mortgage lender, said on May 2 that home values based on agreed transactions fell 0.9 percent from a year earlier, the first drop in more than a decade.

U.K. homebuilders will shrink their workforce as the 19 billion-pound industry grapples with the housing slump, Stewart Baseley, chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said in an interview last week. The rate of economic growth slipped to 0.4 percent in the first quarter from 0.6 percent in the last three months of 2007.

Home buyers are paying more for mortgages after the global credit squeeze prompted lenders to curb lending. U.K. banks increased the cost of home loans with a 5 percent down payment to the highest in more than eight years in April, failing to pass on the Bank of England's three interest-rate cuts since December.

The central bank kept its main rate at 5 percent in May, citing concern about inflation amid record oil prices. Britons should expect “quite a significant slowdown'' in economic growth this year, policy maker Andrew Sentance said on May 22.

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MultiCare Health System has reached an agreement with Rite Aid Corp. to build and staff clinics with certified nurse practitioners in Rite Aid drug stores in Tacoma and Lakewood.

MultiCare, a three-hospital system based in Tacoma, evidently is the first hospital in the state to venture into the retail market.

"I don’t know of any other hospital opening clinics in drug stores," said Cassie Sauer, public relations director with the Washington State Hospital Association.

Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center, for instance, has made no step in this direction nor plans to. "We have looked at opening retail clinics but have chosen a different strategy," said Marnee Iseman, VM’s vice president, clinic operations. Virginia Mason, she said, aims to give its patients convenient and same-day access to their VM doctors.

MultiCare sees its retail clinics — branded "MultiCare Express Clinics" — as another entry point for patients into its system of hospitals and physicians. MultiCare Medical Group employs 86 doctors across 13 clinics, in the Tacoma area, South King County, Auburn and Kent.

If the Rite Aid clinics succeed, MultiCare says it figures to open more of them faxless payday loan fast cash advance.

MultiCare is making its move at a time when retail-based health clinics in this region are apparently not faring all that well, according to an account published May 26 in the Puget Sound Business Journal.

"The concept has proved much more popular in other parts of the country," the Business Journal reported.

MultiCare, though, believes it’s crafted a different and more workable approach to the market. What distinguishes its project is that MultiCare’s retail clinics will link "seamlessly" to the system’s physician group and hospitals, said Dr. Andrew Baron, Primary Care Medical Director for the MultiCare Medical Group.

"We have an integrated system," Baron said. If a patient needs a level of care higher than offered in the planned Rite Aid clinics, the certified nurse practitioners staffing them can refer patients to MultiCare’s hospital emergency rooms or to its physicians, all of which are linked by an electronic health-record system.

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US Airways Group Inc. no longer will offer snacks on its domestic flights, starting June 1.

The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline says the cost-cutting measure stems from rising fuel costs.

In addition to charging travelers for checking a second bag and for premium seating in coach, US Airways is evaluating other fees for services.

US Airways (NYSE: LCC) operates 3,800 flights a day to more than 230 destinations in the Americas and Europe americashadvance $500 payday loan. It is the No. 10 carrier at Honolulu International Airport, carrying more than 472,000 passengers to or from the region in 2007.

Sacramento Business Journal

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Hawaii residents can breathe easier — their lawmakers are on the case.

The Hawaii House of Representatives has formed a special committee to study the effects of air pollution from the Kilauea volcano.

House Speaker Calvin Say on Wednesday named eight lawmakers to the committee, most of them from the Big Island, where Kilauea has been erupting steadily since 1983.

In recent weeks the volcanic emissions, called vog, have blanketed much of the state, helped by a lack of strong trade winds. As a result, hospitals have reported an increase in respiratory problems.

The House committee will examine the vog's effects on public health and safety, agriculture, water quality, pets and other animals, and other areas.

"What is occurring is a natural disaster, but unlike a tsunami, hurricane, twister or major earthquake, it is not viewed as one," said Rep guaranteed cash advance loan payday loans. Robert Herkes, D-Puna, N. Kona, committee chairman. "The Legislature needs to focus on the impacts on Hawaii residents such as health and safety, loss of agricultural crops or the impact on tourism and jobs, and explore all avenues of relief."

Hawaii residents should not expect immediate results from the committee, which is expected to issue a report in time for the Legislature's 2009 regular session, which begins in January.

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IHOP Corp. has reached an agreement for a $347 million sale-leaseback of company-owned real estate from its Applebee’s unit.

A new group affiliated with Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund LP, Drawbridge Real Assets Fund LP and others reached a purchase agreement for 187 company-owned restaurant real estate parcels, according to a Tuesday release from IHOP (NYSE: IHP), based in Glendale. Drawbridge funds are affiliated with Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG), an alternative asset manager that oversees about $34.2 billion.

The $347 million represents proceeds before taxes from the deal, which is expected to close by June 16. IHOP said it will use the money to pay down funded debt.

The purchase price could be adjusted based on final results of restaurant sales for the 12 months that ended April 30, but the price will be finalized by June 1, the release said. The buyers also could cancel the purchase of as much as 15 percent of the Applebee’s restaurants and adjust the price accordingly if they find material defects in the properties faxless cash advance cash advances.

IHOP plans to franchise most Applebee’s restaurants and will be able to transfer the leases to franchisees.

The deal went through despite challenges from a weak credit market. In a first-quarter earnings report, IHOP CEO Julia Stewart warned that the credit market could affect the timing of IHOP’s plans to complete a sale-leaseback of 191 company-owned Applebee’s restaurants in the second quarter.

IHOP bought Applebee’s International Inc. for $2.04 billion on Nov. 29. The sale of Applebee’s real estate and franchising of company-operated restaurants were to help finance the purchase.

A call to IHOP was not immediately returned.

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