Toyota says it is recalling approximately 373,000 2000-2004 Avalons because the vehicle's steering lock bar could break.

Toyota says there was improper casting of the steering lock bar. That defect creates the possibility that a minute crack may develop on the surface.

Such a crack may expand over a long period of repeated lock and unlock operations, and eventually the lock bar could break. If this occurs, the interlock system may become difficult to unlock when stationary.

When an employee age 65 or older retires, he/she is faced with a number of choices. One of them is whether to elect COBRA for their health care coverage for the next 18 months, or elect Medicare Part B and choose an supplement or go into Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage). For those who choose COBRA and do NOT elect Medicare Part B, pay close attention to this below.

For the seventh month in a row, home prices in the Denver area showed a year-over-year price increase in May, rising 3.6% from May 2009, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, released Tuesday.

Out of 20 cities covered in the Case-Shiller report, Denver was one of 13 that showed a year-over-year increase in prices in May.

Read more: Denver Business Journal
 

Owners of National Football League teams are expected to vote Aug. 25 on a bid by Denver and St. Louis sports magnate Stan Kroenke to buy the St. Louis Rams, and approval is likely, according to a news report.

Kroenke - who owns the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, as well as the Pepsi Center - already owns 40% of the Rams. He wants to acquire the remaining 60%.
 
Read more: Denver Business Journal

Colorado has been named one of 19 state finalists in its latest bid for a share of $4.35 billion in stimulus-funded educational-reform grants.

Colorado has applied for $175 million to be paid over four years in the second round of the national “Race to the Top” competition. The U.S. Department of Education program is distributing funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to selected states that develop reform plans.

Read more: Denver Business Journal

If you're a Verizon wireless customer and want an iPhone, can figure out how to "unlock" its network safeguards, and are willing to void your warranty, the government says it's you legal right to do so.

In an official ruling, the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress ruled there's nothing in the law to prevent any mobile phone from being altered to work on a different network than it was intended.

While sales of new homes rose 23% in June from the month before, the western states, which include Colorado, saw a 7% sales decline in June.

And the year-over-year decline in June new-home sales was greater in the West than elsewhere, according to a joint report Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sales of new homes declined 46% in the western states from June 2009 to June 2010, versus a national decline of 17%.

New cars sales in Colorado were up 15 percent for the past three months compared to the same period last year. Some of the big winners were Buick and GMC -- both up sharply.

Read more atcbs4denver.com

Denver-area gasoline prices continued their slow decline for a fourth week, despite an uptick in average prices nationwide, according to the American Automobile Association’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Denver is $2.598, down 0.6 cents from a week ago and down 4.7 cents from four weeks earlier.

As of Monday, mid-grade gas in Denver averages $2.779 a gallon, and premium gas is $2.904 -- both prices down 0.6 cents from a week ago. But diesel is $2.923, up 0.2 cents from the previous Monday.

Researchers at the University of Southern California say the rude behavior often leaves a strong negative perception about the business.

"These findings underscore the need for organizations to promote employee civility," said Deborah MacInnis, Professor of Business Administration at the USC Marshall School of Business and Vice Dean for Research and Strategy. "Training employees to treat one another well enhances the bottom line because of its impact on customer behavior."