brThe deal to merge Carilion Clinic's subsidiary laboratory business with a larger North Carolina lab company was finalized Friday. pThe merger with Spectrum Laboratory Network of Greensboro, N.C., creates one of the 10 largest laboratory companies in the U.S. The business initially will be focused regionally, serving 37 hospitals in eight states. The merger was announced in January./pa href="http://oas.roanoke.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.roanoke.com/rss/157633@Position4"img src="http://oas.roanoke.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.roanoke.com/rss/157633@Position4"…

Access Advertising racked up more than a dozen ADDYs.brpA Roanoke advertising and public relations firm had a strong showing at the Western Virginia ADDY awards, held Saturday at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke./p pAccess Advertising amp; Public Relations took home 14 awards, the highest total for a company in the year's annual awards contest conducted by the American Advertising Federation./p

WASHINGTON (AP) #8212; Legislation to give additional months of unemployment benefits to people who have been out of a job for more than half a year cleared a key hurdle Tuesday that guarantees it will soon pass the Senate. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vUzL_pU2Fbg8vUzf_Tc0VaU1__w/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vUzL_pU2Fbg8vUzf_Tc0VaU1__w/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vUzL_pU2Fbg8vUzf_Tc0VaU1__w/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vUzL_pU2Fbg8vUzf_Tc0VaU1__w/1/di"…

Want to be the first one on your block with a 3-D television? It will cost you about $3,000.

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) #8212; A Toyota Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway was towed to a dealership Tuesday while federal and company inspectors converged on the car to determine whether a stuck gas pedal was to blame. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xnNqWGiuDnSVRIxGP41GCUf03QM/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xnNqWGiuDnSVRIxGP41GCUf03QM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xnNqWGiuDnSVRIxGP41GCUf03QM/1/da"img…

WASHINGTON (AP) #8212; Job openings rose sharply earlier this year, evidence that employers are slowly ramping up hiring as the economy improves. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ztZHgSjj33n96HDXvoa6vIMrITQ/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ztZHgSjj33n96HDXvoa6vIMrITQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ztZHgSjj33n96HDXvoa6vIMrITQ/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ztZHgSjj33n96HDXvoa6vIMrITQ/1/di" border="0"…

The Daily Press in Newport News will eliminate most of its positions for copy editors and designers and move their functions to The Chicago Tribune, the newspaperrsquo;s publisher, Digby Solomon, said today. The Chicago Tribune is the flagship newspaper of the Tribune Co., the parent company of the Daily Press.

CINCINNATI (AP) #8212; The Kroger Co. is sacrificing some profits to court financially strapped shoppers who are buying more groceries at lower prices, counting on them to keep coming back when better economic days finally arrive. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u5gu7ufXrQ1l9dRL3ifCkz0HYOU/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u5gu7ufXrQ1l9dRL3ifCkz0HYOU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/u5gu7ufXrQ1l9dRL3ifCkz0HYOU/1/da"img…

CNNMoney.com is reporting today that the number of American workers with nearly no retirement savings has gone up for the third straight year.

A locally based designer and importer of floor mats, decorative pillows and other items for major retailers has bought a Norfolk Industrial Park warehouse previously occupied by hardware-and-tool distributor Watters and Martin Inc.

Chevron Corp. said Tuesday it will cut 2,000 jobs this year and sell some overseas operations as it revamps its struggling refinery, marketing and transportation operations. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GDRIZ1IvVEBxqhaMPPIE7Ja6dRs/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GDRIZ1IvVEBxqhaMPPIE7Ja6dRs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GDRIZ1IvVEBxqhaMPPIE7Ja6dRs/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GDRIZ1IvVEBxqhaMPPIE7Ja6dRs/1/di"…

MIAMI (AP) #8212; Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_WziWa45B6ffukJK5vlCkpRlPQA/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_WziWa45B6ffukJK5vlCkpRlPQA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/…

DALLAS (AP) #8212; Continental Airlines plans to cancel flights rather than risk stiff fines under new federal rules designed to punish carriers for delaying passengers. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cFB3QZTi8r9O6nVsOags5r_IWyc/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cFB3QZTi8r9O6nVsOags5r_IWyc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cFB3QZTi8r9O6nVsOags5r_IWyc/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cFB3QZTi8r9O6nVsOags5r_IWyc/1/di"…

Job openings rose sharply earlier this year, evidence that employers are slowly ramping up hiring.

brThe deal to merge Carilion Clinic's subsidiary laboratory business with a larger North Carolina lab company was finalized Friday. pThe merger with Spectrum Laboratory Network of Greensboro, N.C., creates one of the 10 largest laboratory companies in the U.S. The business initially will be focused regionally, serving 37 hospitals in eight states. The merger was announced in January./pa href="http://oas.roanoke.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.roanoke.com/rss/1960394@Position4"img src="http://oas.roanoke.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.roanoke.com/rss/1960394@Position4"…

Access Advertising racked up more than a dozen ADDYs.brpA Roanoke advertising and public relations firm had a strong showing at the Western Virginia ADDY awards, held Saturday at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke./p pAccess Advertising amp; Public Relations took home 14 awards, the highest total for a company in the year's annual awards contest conducted by the American Advertising Federation./p

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) #8212; Tom Taormina is 65 and has no retirement savings. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hRHkfAzz89_eTxKF4VrYkvyWNzc/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hRHkfAzz89_eTxKF4VrYkvyWNzc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hRHkfAzz89_eTxKF4VrYkvyWNzc/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hRHkfAzz89_eTxKF4VrYkvyWNzc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/hrdailypress/business?a=jy-otf-cEPI:2c2I6BUdO08:yIl2AUoC8zA"img…

The first of 16 new regional garden markets operated by McDonald Garden Center opens with the Peninsula Town Center grand opening in Hampton Thursday, March 11. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Yq7RYaQVnvBq2UhmwdtmgyBl1OU/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Yq7RYaQVnvBq2UhmwdtmgyBl1OU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Yq7RYaQVnvBq2UhmwdtmgyBl1OU/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Yq7RYaQVnvBq2UhmwdtmgyBl1OU/1/di"…

WASHINGTON (AP) #8212; Legislation extending unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless faces a key test vote in the Senate, its momentum helped by about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of last year. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qSCNIfxhFj2ypb-n1Fin2RK1pfk/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qSCNIfxhFj2ypb-n1Fin2RK1pfk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qSCNIfxhFj2ypb-n1Fin2RK1pfk/1/da"img…

The closing of the stores will be staggered on a rotating basis so customers can visit other stores. When the stores reopen, they will sell beer, wine and be open on Sundays.

The Giant-Carlisle Division of Ahold USA will close 24 Richmond-area stores for one week for remodeling and renovations this spring before reopening them under the Martin’s Food Markets brand.

Marriott International Inc., the largest U.S. hotel chain, plans to double the number of rooms in Europe to 80,000 by 2015. “Europe is the largest lodging market in the world and holds enormous potential for Marriott,“ Amy McPherson, managing director of the company’s European unit, told Bloomberg News in an e-mailed statement today. “We are confident we are well-positioned to achieve this ambitious expansion goal.“

MIAMI (AP) #8212; Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_WziWa45B6ffukJK5vlCkpRlPQA/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_WziWa45B6ffukJK5vlCkpRlPQA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/…

NEW YORK—Stock futures are falling, a year after the stock market hit bottom. With little in the way of economic reports or earnings today to help drive shares higher, investors are taking a breather after major indexes rose the past few weeks. Asian markets were flat overnight and European markets are lower. tocks have surged over the last year since hitting 12-year lows. However, traders expectations about an economic recovery have also grown. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 61.2 percent…

By Peter Bacque Richmond Times-Dispatchnbsp;| MCT Regional Newsnbsp; Dominion Resources Inc. wants to reduce its work force by about 6 percent through buyouts. The energy company expects that about 1,000 of the 4,800 employees eligible for its voluntary separation package will take advantage of the program, Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle said.

FRANKFURT—Audi AG saw 2009 net income fall 39 percent to euro1.35 billion ($1.8 billion) as the economic downturn cut demand for its cars, the German automaker said today. Audi, based in Ingolstadt, earned euro2.2 billion in 2008. The company did not break out fourth quarter figures. Audi said revenue fell 13 percent to nearly euro30 billion from euro34.2 billion in 2008. Total vehicle production fell 9.4 percent to 932,260 cars in 2009 from just over 1 million in 2008.

Access Advertising racked up more than a dozen ADDYs.brpA Roanoke advertising and public relations firm had a strong showing at the Western Virginia ADDY awards, held Saturday at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke./p pAccess Advertising amp; Public Relations took home 14 awards, the highest total for a company in the year's annual awards contest conducted by the American Advertising Federation./pa href="http://oas.roanoke.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.roanoke.com/rss/1292988@Position4"img…

HONG KONG—Most Asian markets rose slightly today, but trading was subdued as investors awaited more clues about the health of the world economy following big gains the day before. European shares slipped in early trade. A number of Asian markets fluctuated in line with Wall Street’s mixed finish. Oil prices fell to near $81 a barrel, while the dollar weakened against the yen and strengthened against the euro.

COEBURN – Back when Walt Crickmer was running Clinchfield Coal Co., he didn’t think much about gob piles.

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) #8212; A California Highway Patrol officer helped slow a runaway Toyota Prius from 94 mph to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway, the CHP said. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XPOPzNCKScdpwGJyADJBXE5P22k/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XPOPzNCKScdpwGJyADJBXE5P22k/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XPOPzNCKScdpwGJyADJBXE5P22k/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XPOPzNCKScdpwGJyADJBXE5P22k/1/di"…

While most of the action during the past four days has been on the court, businesses around the Coliseum have scored big thanks to the annual CAA Tournament. The four-day event, which began Friday and ended last night, generates about $5 million a year for the Richmond area.

Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet yesterday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. Toyota assembled a group of experts to rebut studies by an Illinois professor who revved Toyota engines simply by short-circuiting the wiring. Toyota’s experts say the experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

Harris was sentenced in 2007 to eight years in prison for selling heroin. Since she was a teen, Harris has been in and out of correctional institutions for various felony charges—mostly for selling heroin and crack cocaine. Christine Foote had been working as an administrative assistant when she was sentenced to 10 years for stealing more than $68,000 from her employer, a Salisbury, Md., roofing company.

Market rebound shows its age at 1-year mark NEW YORK Ayear after the stock market hit bottom and began a spectacular comeback, it’s getting harder to dazzle investors. Yesterday was a perfect example of what the market is all about. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14 and the other major indexes were narrowly mixed as stocks stalled after a big rally on Friday.

DETROIT Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile. Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile…

Sponsored by Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., the job fair had attracted nearly 4,000 people by noon yesterday and job seekers who were not already at the site were advised to turn back. A spokesman for Warner said the event had reached capacity and people already there were facing long waits. Warner’s office said another job fair would be scheduled in weeks.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank is trying to set up some new pumps to cope with more than $1 trillion of excess cash pooling up in the nation’s money markets. In an obscure and highly technical announcement yesterday, the New York Fed said it will ask money-market funds to do what are called “reverse repos” with the bank. The financial-market transactions have the effect of moving cash out of the money markets.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. is consolidating its two packaging-container plants in eastern Henrico County into a single facility, a move that will both cost jobs and preserve them. The consolidation is part of an ongoing restructuring by Chicago-based Smurfit-Stone as the company streamlines its North American operations and cuts costs while operating under bankruptcy court protection.

Happy birthday, baby bull. So far you’re one for the storybooks. What can investors expect in Year Two? If history is a guide, the second verse will echo the first. One year ago today, the U.S. stock market started to crawl away from its worst bear-market mauling in eight decades, where the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost more than half of its value.

Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet yesterday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. Toyota assembled a group of experts to rebut studies by an Illinois professor who revved Toyota engines simply by short-circuiting the wiring. Toyota’s experts say the experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

Dominion Resources Inc. wants to reduce its work force by about 6 percent through buyouts. The energy company expects that about 1,000 of the 4,800 employees eligible for its voluntary separation package will take advantage of the program, Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle said. The deadline for employees to apply is Friday, with as many employees as possible released from duties by April 1, he said.

While most of the action during the past four days has been on the court, businesses around the Coliseum have scored big thanks to the annual CAA Tournament.

RICHMOND Bipartisan support for his economic package has been elusive, but Gov. Bob McDonnell has Democrats and Republicans carrying late legislation to give him more freedom when offering financial incentives to companies coming to Virginia.

A Senate committee killed legislation Monday that would have shielded a company from liability for asbestos-related health claims. Del. Terry Kilgore's bill, HB629, was drawn so that it applied to only one company: Crown Cork amp; Seal, a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of cans and bottle caps. It has plants in Suffolk and Winchester.

WASHINGTON (AP) #8212; Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet Monday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NE2SP-iocO9TiHkAe-luu1eENaw/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NE2SP-iocO9TiHkAe-luu1eENaw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NE2SP-iocO9TiHkAe-luu1eENaw/1/da"img…

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Monday it won't bid on a contract to build the U.S. military's next-generation tanker aircraft, apparently wiping out a planned expansion that would have created almost 1,700 jobs statewide, including 500 in Melbourne. pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KkgGLNQuhs7YpSQq_1X-1DQVXiI/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KkgGLNQuhs7YpSQq_1X-1DQVXiI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KkgGLNQuhs7YpSQq_1X-1DQVXiI/1/da"img…

With the a tight job market, mining everything from social circles to social media is critical to landing a job.

NORFOLK Norfolk Southern Railway Co. has agreed to pay a $4 million penalty to resolve alleged violations of federal environmental laws in connection with a 2005 chlorine spill that resulted in the deaths of nine people, according to a statement released today by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Capital One Financial Corp. awarded its CEO, Richard Fairbank, a compensation package worth $6.1 million in 2009.

American International Group will sell a second overseas life and health insurance unit for $15.5 billion to MetLife Inc. in an ongoing bid to repay billions in government aid.