Home sales continue slow pace
By JUSTIN WILLETT Tribune business editor
Real estate agent Sean Moore sees reason to be hopeful about the local housing market.

YOUR OFFICE COACH
Happy hours could turn out to be beneficial
By MARIE G. McINTYRE McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Q: I often feel like an outsider in this office. I am 61 years old, slightly overweight and have gray hair. All my co-workers are in their 20s and 30s. The whole group goes out for "happy hour" once every six weeks. My boss’s boss came up with this idea, and he always attends.

Entrepreneurs bypass banks
By ANGELA TABLAC St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS - A pending $35,000 loan will determine the fate of Mohammad Abdolrezagh’s business plans.

Sexes are not equal in terms of startup success
By JOYCE SMITH McClatchy Newspapers
KANSAS CITY - Men might be from Mars and women from Venus when it comes to relationships, but how about when it comes to entrepreneurship?

Wall Street searches for a silver lining
NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street turned in a mixed performance yesterday after a fresh report on falling retail sales and a new oil price record told investors the same old story: The economy is hurting and costs are rising, but things could be worse.

Accounting shift helps ease inflation pressure
WASHINGTON (AP) - Inflation pressures eased a bit in April despite the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years.

American Coal Co. lays off 187 workers
GALATIA, Ill. (AP) - The owner of a southern Illinois coal mine said 187 workers are being laid off because of what the company calls "sudden, unforeseeable circumstances and physical calamities."

Foreclosure filings soar over last year
LOS ANGELES (AP) - More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said yesterday.

Median prices drop in many U.S. cities
WASHINGTON (AP) - Median home prices fell in two-thirds of the cities surveyed during the first three months of this year while sales declined in 46 states compared to a year ago, according to the latest report highlighting the depth of the nation’s housing woes.

Senate defeats bid to drill in ANWR
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The Senate yesterday rejected a Republican energy plan that promised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, an option that was part of an overall package to increase domestic energy development.

Growing number of households forgo landlines
WASHINGTON (AP) - For nearly three in 10 households, don’t even bother trying to call them on a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone.

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