LAKEWOOD
Gaming revenue up 6% for fiscal year ’07
Limited-stakes gaming in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek generated $106.3 million in fiscal year 2007 for historic preservation and state and local governments, up 6 percent from $100.1 million a year earlier.
The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission on Thursday certified the distribution of those gaming funds to the various agencies, with 50 percent going to the Colorado general fund, 28 percent to the State Historical Fund, 12 percent to Gilpin and Teller Counties, and 10 percent to the three gambling towns.
Also Thursday, the Gaming Division said gambling revenue increased to $76.6 million in July from $74.3 million in July 2006.
DENVER
DIA slips to 6th place on busiest-airport list
Denver International Airport fell to the No. 6 spot among the busiest airports in the country in May, down from No. 4 a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta remained the busiest airport in the nation. Denver was overtaken by Los Angeles International and Las Vegas in May. For the year through May, DIA was the fifth-busiest airport in the nation.
WASHINGTON
Southwest Airlines closer to top spot
Southwest Airlines Co. is on pace to unseat American Airlines this year as the world’s biggest airline, measured by passenger traffic.
The discount carrier already has eclipsed American’s combined domestic and international traffic during the first five months of 2007, according to a government tally. Southwest carried 40.3 million passengers on domestic routes between January and May.
NEW YORK
Kraft weighs selling its Post cereal brands
Kellogg Co. and General Mills Inc. may seek to buy Kraft Foods Inc.’s Post cereal brands, adding Grape-Nuts, Shredded Wheat and other healthier lines, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. said.
Post may fetch $2.2 billion if sold, providing Kraft with funds to increase stock buybacks and acquisitions overseas where growth is faster than in the U.S., J.P. Morgan’s Pablo Zuanic wrote Thursday in a note.
ROUND ROCK, Texas
Dell probe finds manipulated results
Computer maker Dell Inc. said Thursday it will reduce more than four years’ worth of earnings by up to $150 million after an internal probe found the company misled its auditors and manipulated results to meet performance goals.
The company said its net income for the restatement period will be reduced by between $50 million and $150 million, or 2 cents to 7 cents per share.
MINNEAPOLIS
Lawsuits say laxative dangerous, even fatal
A popular over-the-counter laxative used to flush out patients’ bowels before procedures such as colonoscopies has caused serious kidney damage and even death, a series of lawsuits filed across the country alleges.
The lawsuits target Fleet Phospho-soda, made by C.B. Fleet Co. Inc. of Lynchburg, Va. More than 50 already have been filed in at least 20 states, Stephen Foley, one of the lawyers involved in the litigation, said Thursday.
NEW YORK
Con artist allegedly targeted Bush buddy
A Russian con artist posing as presidential pal Charles J. Wyly Jr. ordered a new checkbook from the Texas billionaire’s bank account and wrote a $7 million check for a pile of gold, U.S. authorities said Thursday.
Igor Klopov orchestrated the identify-theft scheme from his home in Moscow, where he used his computer to mine websites for financial data about Wyly and other wealthy Americans, Manhattan prosecutors said.
LOS ANGELES
Cruise, partner raise $500 million for films
Actor Tom Cruise and his business partner, Paula Wagner, raised $500 million to fund as many as 18 films at United Artists Entertainment LLC, the studio they took over in November.
Cruise, 45, and Wagner secured the funds through Merrill Lynch & Co., Los Angeles-based United Artists said Thursday in a statement. They co-own the company with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Other financial details weren’t disclosed.
ALBANY, N.Y.
Physician-ranking programs probed
Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. may be deceiving patients who rely on the insurers’ physician-ranking programs, steering them to cheaper doctors rather than those most qualified, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
Cuomo’s office said in a statement that it asked the companies in letters to justify the programs. Health-insurance companies create physician-ranking programs to recommend doctors and specialists to patients.
OAK CREEK, Wis.
Midwest Air rejects latest AirTran offer
Midwest Air Group Inc.’s board has announced its support for a $450 million buyout offer from TPG Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., rejecting the fifth bid in nine months by AirTran Holdings Inc.
TPG and Northwest, the fifth-largest U.S. airline, offered $17 a share in cash for Midwest, a regional airline that flies in the central U.S. AirTran bid $16.27 in cash and stock, or $445 million at the time the offer was made.
