Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 48

TODAY'S BUZZ Apple recalling 1.8 million Sony notebook batteries More laptop batteries are being recalled. Apple Computer is recalling 1.8 million Sony notebook batteries that could overheat and catch fire. Apple's announcement Thursday comes 10 days after Dell record-setting recall involving the same battery supplier. Apple has received nine reports of lithium-ion battery packs overheating. Users suffered minor burns in two of the cases.

The latest recall covers rechargeable batteries in the 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4 laptops sold since September 2003. Owners can call 1-800-275-2273 toll-free or go to www.apple.comsupportbatteryprogram to determine whether they have a battery that is covered by the recall. A free replacement will be shipped to affected customers. Associated Press More Business Buzz, D2 KEY DATA School spending Average spending per buyer on back-to-school items this year: Clothing and accessories Electronics and equipment Shoes School supplies $228. $114.38 $98.34 $86.22 Kathy Tulumello, business editor, 602.444NEWS or kathy.tulumelloarizonarepublic.com Source: National Retail Federation 2006 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions USA TODAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2006 SECTION THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC money.azcentral.com i A to become 2 stations Split of news-talk and sports formats set for next year By Randy Cordova be left with three sports radio It's the latest development in stations and its first FM talk The Arizona Republic Seesaw day ends with upswing: After an initial surge, stocks slump in response to a big drop in sales of new homes nationwide.

Prices then swing between gains and losses before ending the day with a slight uptick. Market Summary. D4 Valley sports radio KMVP-AM (860): ESPN affiliate. ESPN affiliation will move to KTAR in 2007. KMVP's new format undetermined.

KGME-AM (910): Sports-talk station that features personalities including Gambo Ash and Dan Bickley. Station calls itself XTRA 910. KDUS-AM (1060): Sports-talk station that features personalities including Mike Rafferty, Bill Lewis and Bob Kemp. Home to the Phoenix Coyotes. Station calls itself the Fan.

a repositioning for the station that began when KTAR's parent company, Bonneville International, bought KKFR-FM (92.3) as part of a $77.5 million deal in May. Also affected is ESPN affiliate KMVP-AM (860), which is owned by Bonneville. Helium See RADIO Page D2 station. The changes are the result of listener feedback, said Erik Helium, station vice president and market manager. "People either felt we were interrupting news with sports or sports with news," Helium said.

"This way, we eliminate that." Longtime news-talk radio station KTAR-AM (620) will split into two stations next year: an FM band devoted to news and talk and an AM spot devoted to sports. Once the dust settles from Thursday's announcement and related moves, the Valley will For updated stock quotes, send 1 text message with STOCKTICKER ni (e.g. MSFT) or FUNDTICKER (e.g. Li 1 AGTHX) to 44636 (4INFO). r.

"SPl I-' 1 hlO RAFFLE LITIGATION Barrow, contractor lose suit Groups out $3.8 mil By Jodie Snyder The Arizona Republic Buybacks set record: Big companies bought back a record $116 billion worth of shares in the second quarter, up 43 percent from a year earlier, Standard Poor's says. The previous buyback record was $104 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005. "We've never had this magnitude of buybacks," index analyst Howard Silverblatt says. Vera finds fit at Kohl's: Designer Vera Wang is teaming with Kohl's Corp. to create a new premium fashion and lifestyle brand, Very Vera by Vera Wang.

The exclusive brand will be available in all 749 Kohl's stores and on Kohls.com starting in fall of 2007. Very Vera merchandise will include sportswear, intimate apparel, handbags, leather accessories, jewelry, footwear, linens and towels. Microsoft updates browser: Microsoft Corp. re-leases a nearly final ntSCfOSOft version of its new lnter" net Explorer browser, and the company says the free Web-surfing software is on track for completion by the end of the year. No criminal charges: After two years of investigation, the U.S.

Attorney's Office says mortgage lender Fannie Mae won't face charges over its multibillion-dollar accounting irregularities. D2 Raytheon gets contract: Defense contractor Raytheon Co. wins a U.S. Army order valued at as much as $200 million to produce more air-traffic-control systems used by troops in Iraq. The five-year contract includes as many as 30 Air Traffic Navigation, Integration and Coordination Systems and nine Fixed-Base Precision Approach Radar.

Mounted on Humvee transports, the systems identify friend from foe and provide secure communications. The systems are made in Florida. i i Barrow Neurological Foundation and a company linked with Barrow's popular raffle to raise money for brain research have been ordered to pay $3.8 million to a Canadian company for breach of contract. After a unanimous jury verdict, Maricopa County Superior Court ordered the foundation to pay $1.7 million and Scottsdale-based Rice Capital Partners LLC to pay $2.1 million to S.O. Asher Consultants Ltd.

of Saskatoon. At the center of the lawsuit is the "Barrow Health Wealth Raffle," which was started in 2003 and has netted $28 million for the world-renowned Barrow Neurological Institute. The latest raffle starts next week. Mary Jane Crist, chief executive officer of Barrow Neurological Foundation, said she was surprised by the verdict. Any final judgment against Barrow would be paid through insurance and not by raffle proceeds, Barrow officials said.

Barrow has filed a motion to appeal the decision. In its lawsuit, Asher, which had run hospital raffles in Canada for decades, said it came to Barrow with idea of a raffle in May 2001. After working with Asher for more than a year, See BARROW Page D2 CHRISTINE KEITHTHE ARIZONA REPUBLIC Dean Neuhauser (left) shows prospective time-share buyers Cheryl and Ken Muecke of Peoria and Nadia Mil-chew the Cibola Vista Resort and Spa in Peoria. GENERATION LEX Less rigid time-share rules appeal to boomers' kids Asia-India may talk trade: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations trade ministers agrees to revive free-trade negotiations with India after months of deadlock and edges closer to wrapping up talks on liberalizing the services sector with China and South Korea. Germans' confidence cools: German business confidence dips slightly this month but remains close to a 15-year high it reached in the early summer.

The Ifo institute says the nation's economic recovery "remains robust." Wireless expands in India: LM Ericsson signs a $1 billion deal with Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel to expand its wireless networks. Home sales take another dip in July Staff and wire reports By the numbers 53: Median age of head of household time-share owner. $200 million: Amount spent on new time-share units in Arizona in 2002, the most recent year in which figures are available. 6.7: Average number of nights parties spend in an Arizona time share. $1,744: Average amount a time-share user spends in Arizona.

$15,789: Average cost of a time-share unit nationwide. Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ragatz Associates for the American Resort Development Association Arizona economic-impact report in 2004 and resort owner survey in 2006. and privacy without the cost of additional hotel rooms, he said. But some young buyers have been skeptical of time shares, said Clark Rowley, director of marketing and sales for the Scottsdale Camelback Resort. They don't like the concept of fixed weeks and worry about wasting their investment if they don't use their time.

However, with the advent of flexible time-share use, more are choosing to buy. "The X-Generation is coming into play," Rowley said. "They are seeking more flexibility and that's why the market is changing" with time shares that allow buyers to use points to spend as little as a day at a resort. People younger than 40 See TIME SHARES Page D3 By Yvette Armendariz The Arizona Republic Baby boomers love time shares. People born between 1946 and 1964 make up 50.5 percent of all owners and 51.1 percent of recent buyers, according to a study on time-share ownership by the American Resort Development Association.

Now children of boomers are taking a liking to vacation ownership, too, because of the experiences of their parents. "Children of time-share owners almost always buy," said Neil Cumsky, chief executive officer of Princeton Resort Group, which is developing Cibola Vista Resort and Spa in Peoria. Traveling with their parents, they enjoyed extra space Big help for small businesses: For the Valley's growing body of small technology companies, some upcoming high-powered conferences are a convenient chance to reach potential customers and learn everything from computer security to what's next from Microsoft Corp. D5 Sales of new homes across the country dropped in July by the largest amount since February while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high. Piling on more proof that the housing boom is over, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that new home sales fell 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.072 million units.

The decline was the largest since an 11.5 percent plunge in February. The government reported that the national median price of a new home was $230,000 in July, down from $233,800 in June and up from $229,200 a year ago. In metropolitan Phoenix, home building also continued See HOUSING rage D2 Judge to hear Northwest appeal of strike OK today Boomers, be wary: Here's another reason to plan for retirement; Only about 19 percent of baby boomers have received an inheritance, and the median amount for those who did was $49,000. "Inheritances are not likely to bail the boomers out," says John Rother, director of policy and strategy for AARP. What about the trillions of dollars that boomers were supposed to receive? Experts have estimated more than $40 trillion will be transferred from one generation to another over the next 60 years.

But the primary beneficiaries will be families already well off. Families with a net worth of $450,000 or more received nearly two-fifths of all inheritance dollars, AARP says. Gannett News Service More info at: mymoney.azcentral.com. Compiled from staff and wire reports. management calling such an action illegal and the federal government asserting that a strike would disrupt national air travel.

But missing is an airline financially healthy enough to weather a sustained work stoppage by the union, which represents 8,700 flight attendants. The workers know it and are thus threatening for the most part only scattered and small disruptions to flights, should U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rule that they have a legal right to strike. Management knows it and is therefore doing its See NORTHWEST Page D2 By Jeff Bailey New York Times The makings of an old-fashioned airline labor standoff will come together today in federal court in New York, with an angry flight attendants union threatening to disrupt Northwest Airlines, a cost-cutting bim mziim? mmimtiliMZ SVailey locations: (602)458-9800 Save 25. "rn 3JJ Djl (QJl-LMJ CM SJU UlJUDPS JiifJ CSTONE CREEK home (mice Workstations FURNITURE FACTORY ww.stonecreekfurniture.com Offer valid through August 28th, 2006.