RTD sold nearly $400 million worth of tax-exempt, private activity bonds Wednesday, with the money to be funneled into the private team that will build the Eagle P3 portion of FasTracks.

RTD and Denver Transit Partners are expected to sign financial terms of the $1.649 billion construction deal for the Eagle project on Aug. 12. A groundbreaking is scheduled for Aug. 26 at Denver International Airport.

The nation's employers cut a total of 131,000 jobs in July as the U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.5%, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday.

The jobless rate was also at 9.5% in June; it had been at 9.7% in May.

The loss of 131,000 non-farm jobs in July exceeds what some economists had forecast for the month.

The economy created 71,000 private-sector positions, less than the 83,000 new jobs reported in June.

But some 143,000 temporary Census jobs ended in July, and some states cut back on employment as well.

The Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education and Pensions is holding hearings on recruitment practices at for-profit colleges and universities. It follows an Obama Administration proposal to regulate federal aid to for-profit schools.

For-profit schools, such as University of Phoenix, Westwood and Devry University, have grown quickly in the last decade, relying on distance learning and serving, in many cases, students who are currently in the work force.

Continued concerns over salmonella contamination have prompted Procter & Gamble to expand its previous recall to include some Iams and Eukanuba dry dog and cat foods.

The Procter & Gamble said it's taking the action because the pet food has the “potential to be contaminated” with salmonella, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning.

The company -- which makes Iams and Eukanuba products -- said it has not received any reports of illnesses linked to the recalled foods.

Colorado’s largest medical-malpractice insurance provider has paid $48,400 in fines and other charges following an examination of its business practices by the Colorado Division of Insurance.

However, COPIC Insurance Co., a state-regulated insurance company based in Denver, is disputing a portion of the state’s finding related to a long-term care benefit it offers subscribers. The company has filed a lawsuit in a Denver District Court over the matter.

Online help-wanted ads in July were at their highest level in 20 months, the Conference Board reports.

After two months of declines, the number of current online ads for Colorado jobs rose by 9,100 in July to 86,600, the highest total since November 2008, the Conference Board’s monthly report on Internet help-wanted advertising says.

The total includes new ads as well as those continuing from previous months.

Read more: Denver Business Journal
 

Versions of the 2007-09 Cadillac Escalade lead the pack when it comes to the rate at which people file insurance claims for theft, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute.

The luxury SUV is followed by the Ford F-250 crew pickup, Infiniti G37 luxury car, and Dodge Charger with a HEMI engine. Theft rates for these vehicles, which are one-to-three years old, are three to five times as high as the average for all vehicles.
 

Sales of craft beer rose 12% in the first six months of this year as compared to the same time period in 2009, the Boulder-based Brewers Association announced Monday.

That growth in a sub-industry that is becoming an increasingly larger part of Colorado’s economy comes despite the fact that overall U.S. beer industry volume sales are down 2.7% from the same time period in 2009, the national association noted.

Toyota is recalling nearly 40,000 Lexus LX470 models to fix a problem with the steering shaft.

Safety regulators said a snap ring on the shaft may disengage under impact, possibly resulting in a loss of steering control.

Dealers will replace the snap ring with a newly-designed one and install an additional component to prevent separation of the steering shaft. The recall is expected to begin during August 2010.

Owners may contact Lexus at 1-800-255-3987.

Toyota's problems with sudden acceleration became widely known late last year, but a class action suit claims the Toyota was aware of the problem at least six years earlier.

Lawyers handling a class action lawsuit against Toyota say they have found documents showing Toyota was investigating at least one report of unintended acceleration as early as 2003. In a filing in federal court in California, the attorneys cite a 2003 field report a Toyota technician wrote in response to a driver's complaint of unintended acceleration.