DENVER – The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau announced Tuesday it will honor three top industry leaders at its Tourism Industry Hall of Fame Dinner on Nov. 30.
The inductees are former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb; Ilene Kamsler, president of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association; and Jack Vickers, founder of The International golf tournament.
Awards also will be presented to state Sen. Jack Taylor and Rep. Al White for their work on securing permanent funding for tourism marketing. The Denver Art Museum will be honored for its expansion, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science will be honored for its successful hosting of the “Body Worlds 2” exhibit.
MORE BRIEFS
LONDON
British committee delays casino decision
A committee that will decide where to build a mega-casino in Britain – a project Denver developer Philip Anschutz hopes to participate in – will delay its decision until after the end of the year, according to the website of the Evening Standard newspaper of London.
The committee was scheduled to choose from among seven short-listed cities by January. The “panel has asked to delay its report by at least a month blaming ‘the printing process,”‘ the newspaper said.
PALISADE
11 of 13 parcels sold
at vineyards auction
Eleven of the 13 parcels up for auction at Grande River Vineyards sold Tuesday for a total of $2.8 million, according to J.P. King Auction Co.
The two parcels housing the main winery buildings, a tasting room, a retail area and an outdoor amphitheater did not sell.
The 91-acre Grande River Vineyards is the largest grape grower in Colorado. Owners Stephen and Naomi Smith said last month they plan to retire.
The six winning bidders were not identified.
WASHINGTON
Treasury chief may advise SarbOx change
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he is considering recommending changes to the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate- governance law because its restrictions have overwhelmed some American companies.
While the “net result” of stricter reporting standards for executives has been positive, Sarbanes-Oxley has also contributed to “an atmosphere that has made it more burdensome for companies to operate,” Paulson said Tuesday.
TOKYO
Sony batteries prompt apology, no departures
Sony executives apologized Tuesday for inconvenience caused by a massive global recall in laptop batteries but said the problems were now fixed and that none of the company’s top leaders would resign over the incident.
The embarrassing spate of recalls threatening to tarnish the once-impeccable Sony brand comes at a time when Sony has been struggling to turn around its core electronics business.
NEW YORK
New Ford CEO takes aim at complexity
Ford Motor Co.’s new chief executive, Alan Mulally, thinks the automaker has “too many models, too many platforms, too many different components,” a Credit Suisse analyst said.
Mulally told analysts at a lunch meeting Tuesday in New York that eliminating “that complexity represents a huge opportunity for Ford,” Chris Ceraso of Credit Suisse said in a report. He rates the shares “underperform” and doesn’t own them.
TOYOTA CITY, Japan
Toyota recalls Scions with faulty air bags
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest automaker, plans to recall about 30,000 Scion tC small cars to fix a flaw that could cause side air bags to deploy accidentally.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been notified of plans to recall 2005 and 2006 model tC coupes, the company said in a statement. The glitch wasn’t linked to any accidents, deaths or injuries, Toyota said.
OMAHA
Hacking of online brokerages probed
The government has launched investigations into fraud cases in which computer hackers apparently manipulated client accounts at two of the nation’s largest electronic brokerages, stealing millions of dollars.
Officials at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday that the fraud cost the company about $4 million in the July-September quarter. Last week, E-Trade Financial Corp. said the company lost about $18 million in a similar scheme during its third quarter. Both companies reimbursed customers for their losses.
NEW YORK
Analysis: Backdating losses at $10.3 billion
The options-backdating scandal is adding up, costing the involved companies $10.3 billion in lost share price and additional compensation expenses, according to an analysis by a proxy advisory firm.
The companies with disclosed options-backdating problems booked an additional $5.2 billion in pretax compensation expenses and their collective market value has also dropped $5.1 billion since their disclosures, according to an analysis by proxy adviser Glass, Lewis & Co.
NEW BRITAIN, Conn.
Toolmaker Stanley cuts 2006 forecast
Stanley Works, the largest U.S. toolmaker, cut its 2006 sales forecast Tuesday. The shares fell 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Revenue this year will rise as much as 23 percent from a year earlier, less than the company’s prior forecast of as much as 26 percent, Stanley Works said in a statement.
