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Business/Economy

  • Consumers Spent at Record Levels in 2011

    Retail sales barely rose in December, but the gain was enough to lift sales to a record level for 2011. It marked the largest annual increase in more than a decade.

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  • America hits the brakes on health care spending

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Is health-care relief finally in sight?

    Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation's economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday.

    Experts debated whether it's a fleeting consequence of the sluggish economy, or a real sign that cost controls by private employers and government at all levels are starting to work.

    The answers will be vital for Medicare's sustainability, as well as for workplace coverage.

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  • Hiring rises in November, but job openings dip

    WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers stepped up their hiring in November, though they advertised fewer jobs for a second straight month. The mixed data suggest the job market has strengthened but employers remain cautious.

    Until this fall, most of the improvement in the job market since the recession ended has been largely because of a sharp drop in layoffs. The jump in hiring reported Tuesday suggests companies are feeling more confident in the economy and are expanding, albeit slowly.

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  • Old Treasures Translate to Cash

    It may be time to unearth that coin collection or rummage those treasures in the attic. Over the past few months a number of gold and silver buyers have set up temporary operations in Los Alamos as the price of gold and similar commodities has spiked.

    The American Coin Buyers Guild (ACBG) is currently at the Best Western Hilltop House Hotel through Saturday, and representatives are looking to purchase coins, precious metals and collectables.

    “Not everyone’s going to have the lottery ticket. But people can bring in something they thought had absolutely no value, and walk away with some real money,” Field Manager Dereck Outten said.

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  • LANB to host Quality New Mexico executives


    LANB is scheduled to host a private gathering of the QNM Executive Committee at its Griffin Street location in Santa Fe Wednesday.
     The meeting will include a meet and greet for LANB’s leadership team and QNM executives with Phil Marineau, former president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. and current Chairman of the Board of Shutterfly Inc.  Marineau is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at QNM’s annual Learning Summit held each spring in Albuquerque.  

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  • World rings in 2012 and bids adieu to a tough year

    NEW YORK (AP) — With glittering fireworks and star-studded celebrations from New Zealand to Times Square, the world eagerly welcomed a new year and hoped for a better future Saturday, saying goodbye to a year of hurricanes, tsunamis and economic turmoil that many would rather forget.

    Revelers in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and the South Pacific island nation of Samoa, which jumped across the international dateline to be first to celebrate, welcomed 2012 with booming pyrotechnic displays. Fireworks soared and sparked over Moscow's Red Square, crowds on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard popped Champagne corks at midnight, and up to a million revelers were expected to jam New York's Times Square for the famed crystal-paneled ball drop.

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  • NM lawmaker joins call for taxing online purchases

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico lawmaker says one way to help the state pull itself out of a financial hardship is to tax online purchases.

    This year, $30 billion wasn't spent in malls, it was spent online. New Mexico Rep. Eleanor Chavez of Bernalillo says some of that is tax money the state is losing out on.

    Chavez is one of several lawmakers who will be sponsoring legislation this upcoming session that will allow New Mexico to tax online retailers.

    Chavez tells KOAT-TV online purchases create unfair competition, so what lawmakers really want to do is level the playing field and at the same time help small businesses in the state.

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  • Congress yanks cash away from CMRR nuke lab

    LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — It will be about a year before construction can start on a new plutonium laboratory at Los Alamos after Congress pulled back funding for the project and restricted how the money can be spent.

    The Albuquerque Journal reports the congressional action also raises questions about the long-term prospects for the new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility.

    The final congressional report said that no construction activities are funded for the CMRR-Nuclear Facility during Fiscal Year 2012.

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  • Obama signs 2-month payroll tax cut extension

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed legislation extending a payroll tax cut for two months. The action concludes an end-of-year drama that split Republicans and threatened a tax hike on 160 million Americans.

    Obama acted Friday after the House and Senate approved the tax cut extension, which will maintain the Social Security tax at 4.2 percent. The legislation also extends unemployment insurance for jobless workers and forces Obama to make a decision within 60 days on whether to permit construction of an oil pipeline opposed by environmental groups.

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  • Ashley Inn becomes a Motel 6

    Changing names but not its ownership, the 50-room Ashley Hotel & Suites at 2175 Trinity Dr. is now a Motel 6 franchise. WiFi and free morning coffee are included in the national chain’s trademark “no frills” style.

    The continental breakfast once provided by Ashley Suites is now gone.

    “We’ve now stopped serving the continental breakfast and that’s about the only thing that’s changed since we became a Motel 6,” said Nichole Richerson, who has managed the property for a year. “We also still have fridges and microwaves in some of our rooms.”

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