Tax break for Toyota hybrids going the way of cheap gas
Washington – Environmentally concerned car buyers will see some federal tax breaks for energy-efficient hybrids start shrinking this fall.
Toyota Motor Corp. has hit the production limit – 60,000 – on vehicles eligible for a tax credit designed to encourage more buyers to choose gas-electric hybrids.
Spokeswoman Martha Voss said Thursday the automaker sold its 60,000th such vehicle in May.
That means the tax credits for Toyota and Lexus hybrids will be cut in half for drivers who purchase their vehicles beginning in October, she said. The $3,150 credit for the Toyota Prius, the largest hybrid tax credit available, will shrink to $1,575. Beginning in April, the tax credits will shrink to one-quarter of their original value. They will disappear by October 2007.
Hybrids account for a small percentage of the market, but they have grown in popularity with gas prices topping $3 a gallon.
Taxpayers can still claim a full tax credit for buying hybrids made by other manufacturers, such as Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., until those manufacturers trigger the credit limits or the tax break expires in 2011.
DENVER
DIA sets record for May passengers
Denver International Airport hit another traffic record with more than 4.1 million passengers using the airport in May, the highest ever for May. It’s a 12.9 percent increase from May 2005, when nearly 3.7 million passengers used DIA.
Passenger traffic for the year through May at DIA is up 11.8 percent. DIA manager of aviation Turner West said “all indications are that it’s going to be a very busy summer.”
COLORADO SPRINGS
Apartment complexes sold to Wash. concern
Sperry Van Ness, an Irvine, Calif.-based commercial real-estate investment-brokerage firm, has completed the sale of Sterling Pointe Apartments and Windtree Apartments to Washington-based Weidner Investments for $56.45 million.
Doug Carter of Sperry Van Ness in Colorado Springs represented the buyer. The seller, Maryland-based Klingbeil Capital, represented itself.
VAIL
Town offering free access to wireless Net
The town of Vail announced Thursday that Internet users will have access to free broadband wireless service thanks to a partnership with communications provider CenturyTel.
Pending approval, the service, which will be offered in one-hour increments, will be launched this fall and will be available anywhere in town.
Vail said it is making no investment in the network. It is giving CenturyTel the use of municipal buildings and other town property to operate the system.
BLACK HAWK
Eleven laid off in casino restructuring
The Isle of Capri said Thursday that it laid off 11 people at its casino in Black Hawk as part of a restructuring.
The company, which employs more than 1,100 in Black Hawk, said it had offered the laid-off employees opportunities to apply for the 50 job openings that it has at the casino.
DENVER
Qwest IT workers fix meals for poor
About 170 Qwest information-technology workers assembled meals for low-income families this week at SHARE Colorado.
The nonprofit group helps low-income families save 50 percent on groceries. Qwest, with 40,000 workers in 14 states, encourages volunteerism through a special program.
DENVER
Teton Energy offering 2 million shares
Teton Energy Corp., a Denver-based independent oil and gas exploration and production company, announced Thursday that it intends to offer 2 million shares of its common stock. Petrie Parkman & Co. will serve as sole underwriter.
CHICAGO
United chief: Remove foreign-market rules
United Airlines chief executive Glenn Tilton reiterated his call Thursday for the elimination of government regulations he said are holding U.S. airlines back from competing with emerging international “super-carriers.”
Tilton told an aviation conference that limits on open access to foreign markets and cross-border investment opportunities need to be dropped. The overregulation, he said, is the reason no U.S. airline is among the top 20 that fly internationally as measured by operating profitability.
ST. PAUL, Minn.
Denver software firm bought out by 3M
3M announced Thursday that it agreed to acquire Archon Technologies Inc., a Denver-based provider of enterprise-software solutions for motor-vehicle agencies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Archon’s software systems manage and integrate motor vehicle agency operations including vehicle registration, titling, driver licensing, professional licensing, dealer credentialing and revenue management.
HOUSTON
Ken Lay’s will leaves everything to his wife
Enron founder Ken Lay, who died this month in Aspen, left all his assets to his wife, Linda, according to his will. The document filed Thursday does not specify the assets.
Linda Lay is executor of the will, which Ken Lay signed Aug. 8, 2003, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday online.
His assets could be the target of civil lawsuits.
ATLANTA
Coke may buy back $13.2 billion of stock
Coca-Cola Co., the world’s biggest soft-drink maker, may buy back as much as $13.2 billion of its stock, representing 13 percent of outstanding shares.
LOS ANGELES
Ex-Qwest manager pleads guilty in fraud
A former Qwest manager pleaded guilty Thursday to federal mail fraud and tax-evasion charges and said he took kickbacks from the company he hired to install equipment for the Denver-based company.
Jeffrie Lane Bryahn, 54, of Costa Mesa, Calif., faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
While serving as a Qwest contract manager in 1999 and 2000, Bryan solicited more than $650,000 from Fiberco Inc., a construction company, where an executive wrote him cashier’s checks in varying amounts. Bryan sent the checks to a Colorado bank account and concealed the payments, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
