Two full page ads placed by British largest clothing retailer Marks and Spencer in two British daily newspapers in London on Friday offering their apologies for charging extra for large size bras.

LONDON – The Battle of the Bust is over, and consumers have triumphed.

Britain’s largest clothing retailer, Marks & Spencer, has backed down on its incendiary policy of charging a 2 pound ($3) surcharge for bras that are DD or larger in the face of a spreading consumer revolt.

Think women don’t care about this issue? Then think again — that’s what M&S executives had to do after some 14,000 women gave their name to a Facebook campaign aimed at eliminating the big boob penalty.

“We always try to do the right thing by our customers and we thought we had, but it’s clear we’ve got it wrong this time,” said M&S chairman Stuart Rose. “From Saturday, no matter whether it’s large or small bras you need, the price will be the same.”

To get the message out, the company paid for an eye-catching full-page advertisement in several national newspapers Friday. It showed a full-figured woman in lacy green lingerie. In the ad, the company apologized for its mistake and offered a 25 percent reduction in all bras of all sizes for the next two weeks.

“We are just overwhelmed,” said Becky Mount, a co-founder of the Busts 4 Justice group that brought retailing icon M&S to its knees with a canny Internet and media-oriented campaign. “We’ve won, and we never thought it would happen so quickly.”

The group, which grew exponentially in the last few days, had vowed to challenge Rose and other M&S executives at the company’s annual meeting this summer. Mount said this threat, and growing media support for their crusade, made the company’s leaders realize they were losing the public relations battle.

“They didn’t want a lot of big-breasted women storming their meeting,” said Mount, 19. “I think they realized they were dealing with a much bigger force than they thought originally, and that we weren’t going to go away.”

She said the group’s members would be happy to shop at M&S now that the surcharge has been dropped.

The new policy brings M&S into line with other major retailers in Britain, who decline to pass the higher cost of designing and manufacturing large-size bras on to the consumer.

British lingerie specialists ranging from the pricey Agent Provocateur to the saucy Ann Summers line do not charge more for DD bras, despite the extra work that goes into producing them. In the United States, bra prices on the popular Victoria’s Secret Web site do not change as sizes get larger.

But policies change store by store and brand by brand.

At the upscale Rigby & Peller shops in London, which specialize in personalized fittings, the company’s own bras are priced the same regardless of the size, said buyer Nicky Clayton. But some outside brands the store sells do contain a markup for larger sizes.

“Some brands like the Italian company Prima Donna charge us more, so we pass that on,” she said. “But for Rigby and Peller bras the prices are exactly the same because we’ve got total control and can maintain pricing across all the sizes.”

She said M&S probably ran into trouble because its lingerie price policy differed from the strategy used for other items.

“If they charged more for larger sizes of all their items, like garments and outerwear, it would have been fine,” she said. “It was just that they took this policy only on the lingerie sector, that made it a problem.”

A man walks by a bar advertising their special offer in central London, Monday, March 16, 2009. England's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson in his 2008 Annual Report 'On the State of Public Health', launched Monday, made recommendations to the Government to tackle alcohol harm, and particularly the collateral damage to society, family members, the National Health Services and the economy. He also calls for a minimum pricing of 50 pence per unit of alcohol to be introduced to reduce the consumption of alcohol and its associated harms.

LONDON – Two-for-one specials. Alcopops to make booze tasty to teens. Supermarket prices that reward buying in bulk. And pubs on every street corner, making it easy to start your day with a liquid lunch.

No wonder that Britain’s notorious binge drinking is so out of control that the government’s top medical adviser came out Monday in favor of stiff new price policies to cut off the massive flow of cheap booze.

“Cheap alcohol is killing us as never before,” Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said as he delivered his annual Public Health report. “The quality of life of families and in cities and towns up and down the country is being eroded by the effects of excessive drinking.”

Donaldson described a culture where anything goes — with cheap drinks, two-for-one specials and underage drinking — helping to cause public health costs to soar out of control. Anyone who goes out late at night in London or other major cities would know what he was talking about — it has become common for teenagers and young adults to drink until they drop.

“Let’s try and imagine a country where nobody is physically or sexually assaulted because of alcohol,” he said. “Let’s try and imagine a country where nobody dies in an accident caused by alcohol, where no child has to cower in the corner while its mother is beaten by a drunken partner, where the streets are welcoming for all on a Saturday night and where the streets are free of urine and vomit on a Sunday morning.”

Donaldson said per capital alcohol consumption has fallen since 1970 in many European countries, but has increased by 40 percent in Britain, where beer, wine and spirits have remained relatively cheap, particularly when bought in bulk in supermarkets.

Bringing in a minimum price regime based on a charge of at least 50 pence (70 cents) per alcohol unit would have a substantial, immediate impact, he said.

“Every year there would be 3,393 fewer deaths, 97,900 fewer hospital admissions, 45,800 fewer crimes, and 296,900 fewer sick days,” he said.

His report said the new pricing strategy would set a minimum price of 4.50 pounds ($6.30) for a bottle of wine; a minimum of 14 pounds ($19.70) for a bottle of whiskey, and a base price of 6 pounds ($8.50) for a six-pack of beer.

By comparison, a major London supermarket Monday offered 30 cans of Foster’s beer for 16 pounds ($22.50), which works out to just over 3 pounds ($4.20) for six cans of beer, roughly half the minimum price the health adviser seeks.

Donaldson’s recommendations are nonbinding, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quick to distance himself from the proposal Monday.

“We do not want the responsible, sensible majority of moderate drinkers to have to pay more, or suffer, as a result of the excesses of a small minority,” Brown said.

It is clear that Brown does not want to add to his considerable political burdens by becoming known as the prime minister who raised alcohol prices in the middle of a steep recession.

He was joined by Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who is far ahead in polls in advance of the next general election, which must be held by the summer of 2010. He said the new plan would penalize responsible drinkers and called instead for problem drinkers to be targeted.

Public reaction seemed muted, with some complaining about the government’s “nanny state” approach to social problems.

“It’s disgusting,” said John Michael, a 65-year-old entrepreneur. “Too much tax. Too much government. For the people who have problems, there are laws. Laws are in place so they should abide. People shouldn’t be treated like children.”

Computer systems analyst Suzanne Hamilton said the new policy would make it impossible for her and her husband to find wines in their price range.

“I think it’s penalizing everyone for a minority problem,” she said. “My husband and I have been trying to find wines for under 4 pounds ($5.60). I think the government is always trying to find a problem and slap us on the hand.”

Associated Press writer Laura Nichols contributed to this report.

Products of China Mengniu Dairy Co. Ltd. are displayed at a press conference.

BEIJING – Chinese health officials are investigating a growing number of cases of kidney stones in babies, state media said Thursday, months after a tainted milk scandal in which hundreds of thousands of children who drank melamine-contaminated formula suffered similar ailments.

While the Health Ministry has not directly linked the new cases to dairy products, parents are blaming formula made by Dumex Baby Food Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of France’s Groupe Danone SA. Dumex insists that its products are safe, and health officials said tests showed they are free of melamine, an industrial chemical.

The China Daily newspaper said Thursday that the Health Ministry has asked all local health bureaus to begin epidemiological research on kidney problems in children, including checking their eating habits and living environment.

“We’re trying to find out why the number of kidney ailments among babies has risen drastically,” Ma Yangchen of the ministry’s press office was quoted as saying. The report did not say how many children have become sick, when they became ill or what triggered the investigation.

A woman who answered the telephone at the Health Ministry said there was no official statement on the matter.

The ministry’s investigation reflects government efforts to restore public confidence after milk tainted with melamine, used in the production of plastics and fertilizer, was linked to the deaths last year of at least six Chinese babies and illnesses of nearly 300,000 others.

The scandal, which unfolded in September, was one of the country’s worst food contamination crises. It involved the products of China’s biggest dairies and underscored the government’s problems with policing product quality.

State media have said that officials started looking into Dumex because of overseas media reports last month that about 48 Chinese babies suffered kidney-related illnesses after drinking the company’s milk. It did not identify the reports.

Dumex has insisted that all its products are safe. The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said over the weekend it had tested 932 batches of dairy products produced by the Danone subsidiary since mid-September “and all are melamine-free.”

It also said no melamine was found in more than 1,700 batches produced before mid-September, when the dairy scandal broke.

Dumex’s main China office in Shanghai had no immediate comment Thursday.

Jiang Yalin, a mother in the southwestern province of Guizhou and the leader of a parents’ group, said her daughter drank only Dumex milk after she turned 1 and fell sick about two months later. She cried constantly at night, even in her sleep, and started having problems urinating, Jiang said.

When Jiang took her daughter to the hospital in September after reading about the tainted milk scandal, doctors said the child had stones as big as rice grains in both her kidneys.

“I was stunned. I felt helpless and angry,” Jiang said in a telephone interview.

The girl has since recovered and Jiang says doctors have declared her healthy.

Jiang said she has compiled a list of more than 100 babies — the youngest only a couple of months old — who fell sick after drinking Dumex and may file a suit against the company.

“I must figure out what exactly it was that harmed my daughter. I must know,” Jiang said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy gestures during his speech on the French press media in Paris on Friday. Sarkozy has laid out new state aid for France's troubled print media, like paying for deliveries of newspapers and magazines and a giveaway to 18-year olds of a subscription of their choice.

PARIS – The French state is to help provide free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers for their 18th birthdays, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday. But the bigger gift is for France’s ailing print media.

Sarkozy also announced a ninefold rise in the state’s support for newspaper deliveries and a doubling of its annual print advertising outlay amid a swelling industry crisis.

Sarkozy argued in a speech to publishers that the measures are needed because the global financial crisis has compounded woes for a sector already suffering from falling ad revenues and subscriptions.

In a speech to industry leaders, Sarkozy said it was legitimate for the state to consider the print media’s economic situation.

“It is indeed its responsibility … to make sure an independent, free and pluralistic press exists,” he said.

This is sensitive territory for Sarkozy, who has been accused of cozying up to media moguls and exerting influence over them. He is also no stranger to heavy criticism in the country’s often opinionated newspapers.

In measures to take effect next month, the state will increase its annual support for newspaper and magazine deliveries to euro70 million ($90 million) from euro8 million last year, and spend euro20 million more a year for its advertisements in print publications. The state will also defer some fees the publications face.

One of Sarkozy’s solutions to help the industry is a pilot program that will give teenagers celebrating their 18th birthday a free, yearlong subscription to any general news daily of their choice. The publisher is to give the newspapers away, while the state pays for the deliveries.

That initiative appeared designed to assuage industry fears that young readers don’t share the same appetite for print media that their parents and grandparents have, denting current and future revenues.

“The habit of reading the press is learned very young,” Sarkozy said, while insisting that the aid would only buy time for publishers to adapt to the new media landscape.

The initiative is designed to help the sector over three years “to modernize and invest in the print media sector in exchange for important structural reforms,” he said. The measures he announced Friday largely came from recommendations in a three-month study into the industry’s health that was released on Jan. 8. The study also recommends that newspapers restructure their finances and that journalists be better trained for multiple forms of media, including online.

“None of the proposed measures … will be useful in the end if the profession doesn’t meet its challenges,” he said. “The industry has a future to reinvent. … Time is running out.”

Europeans, who normally get about one-fifth of their gas from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines, anxiously awaited for the fuel to start flowing.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday signed the documents at Putin’s government headquarters on the Moscow river. They resulted from an outline agreement they had clinched in late-night talks Sunday as heads of Russia’s state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom and the Ukraine’s Naftogaz.

“As a result of intensive and lengthy talks we have reached agreement on all issues concerning natural gas supply to Ukraine and its transit to Europe,” Putin said. He said Gazprom had been instructed to resume shipments bound for Europe that had been halted since Jan. 7 as Moscow and Kiev argued over 2009 gas prices and allegations that Ukraine was stealing gas destined for Europe.

Tymoshenko said the gas would be pumped toward Europe as soon as it enters the Ukrainian pipes.

Early Tuesday, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller ordered the resumption of deliveries bound for Europe via Ukraine to begin at 10 a.m. (2 a.m. EST) Tuesday.

In a directive issued before dawn, Miller told company officials to ensure the neighboring countries’ pipeline systems are synchronized to get the gas flowing at the designated time.

Officials said the restored gas shipments could take up to 36 hours to cross Ukraine, which is the size of France, and reach European customers.

EU officials were taking a wait and see attitude.

“We now need an indication of the precise time that gas deliveries will be resumed. Our monitors will verify when the gas actually starts to flow,” the European Commission said.

Europe gets about 20 percent of its total natural gas needs from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines, and the cutoff hit hard at some countries, such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, that rely almost entirely on Russia for gas. In the Balkans and other eastern European nations, the crisis has shut factories and left millions of people to shiver in unheated homes.

The confrontation has deeply shaken Europeans’ trust in both Russia and Ukraine as reliable energy suppliers — something each has repeatedly insisted it is, while blaming the other for the supply cutoff.

More than 15 nations have been forced to scramble for alternative sources of energy. The dispute was further complicated by geopolitical struggles over Ukraine’s future and over lucrative export routes for the energy riches of the former Soviet Union.

Before dawn Sunday, Tymoshenko and Putin negotiated a preliminary deal for Ukraine to get gas with a 20 percent discount from this year’s average European price, which Russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. That would double the price Ukraine paid in 2008.

However, natural gas prices for Europe are expected to fall sharply later this year, due to the reduction in oil prices. By midsummer, Ukraine could be paying as little as $150 for 1,000 cubic meters, said Ronald Smith, a strategist at Moscow’s Alfa Bank.

Russia, meanwhile, will not have to pay Ukraine higher transit prices to use its pipelines this year. Putin said in 2010, Ukraine will have to pay full price for Russian gas, and Russia will pay market prices for transit.

Tymoshenko said the deal would save Ukraine billions of dollars. But there was no celebration in the camp of her political rival, President Viktor Yushchenko.

Citing Monday’s deal, Yushchenko’s energy adviser Bohdan Sokolovsky said Ukraine will pay $360 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of this year, and then a lower price. He said the average price for 2009 should be $235-$240 — still a significant increase from the $179.50 it paid last year.

Sokolovsky said Ukraine was giving more than it was getting out of the deal. He said that by continuing to pay last year’s transit fee of $1.70 per 100 kilometers, Russia was getting a 60 percent discount — as opposed to a 20 percent reduction for Ukraine.

“This is not a symmetric approach,” he told the AP.

Sokolovsky said Ukraine will face major economic difficulties as a result of the price increase.

“This will be a difficult phase, but I hope a temporary one.”

Workers collect red grapes in the vineyards of the famed Chateau Haut Brion, a Premier Grand Cru de Graves, during the grape harvest in Pessac-Leognan, near Bordeaux, southwestern France. Global wine consumption, on the rise in past years, is continuing to grow, with the U.S. overtaking Italy as the world's biggest consumer by 2012, according to a report by the London-based International Wine and Spirit Record.

PARIS – The world just can’t get enough wine.

Global wine consumption, on the rise in past years, is forecast to continue to grow in the coming ones, with the United States overtaking Italy as the world’s biggest consumer by 2012, according to a new report released Tuesday by the International Wine and Spirit Record.

The thirst for wine is set to deepen in emerging economies such as China and Russia, whose consumption levels are soon expected to overtake that of Spain, another nation historically associated with wine, the report said.

It predicted that the financial and economic crisis affecting many wine-consuming countries worldwide would only have “limited” consequences for the growth of the wine sector. The report forecast growth for the coming four years roughly in line with pre-crisis trends.

Global production and consumption are both expected to rise, the report said, with production expected to grow by 3.83 percent from 2008-2012 to slightly over 3 billion 2.4-gallon (9-liter) cases.

World consumption is to grow at an even quicker pace — 6 percent — over 2008-2012, reaching 2.8 billion cases, the report said.

The report, commissioned by the Bordeaux, France-based Vinexpo wine body and presented at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday, predicted the United States would dethrone Italy to become the world’s biggest consumer of non-sparkling wines by 2012.

In 2007, Italy overtook France, its wine-producing neighbor, to claim the title, buying 299 million cases, the report said. Based on past and current trends, it forecast that U.S. consumers would buy a total of 313 million cases in 2012.

Americans are already spending more on wine than any other nation. In 2007, the U.S. invested nearly $22 billion in wine purchases, the report by the London-based wine market research company said.

Surprisingly, Britons — traditionally more associated with beers and ales — have outspent the French on wine since 2005, the report said. In Russia, expenditures on wine nearly doubled between 2003-2007 and are expected to reach nearly $6.5 billion by 2012.

Europe’s three main wine producers, France, Spain and Italy, among them make up half of global production. The three have been hit hard in recent years by increasing competition from New World vintners in the United States, South America and Africa.

The report was commissioned by Vinexpo, which puts on a major wine exhibition every year, to prepare producers for coming trends.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Energy prices tumbled across the board Wednesday as a government report showed U.S. oil reserves were much bigger than expected, suggesting demand continues to fall.

Sweet crude for February delivery tumbled more than 7 percent, or $3.51 to $45.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the report was released.

The Energy Information Administration said inventories rose of commercial crude oil inventories rose 6.7 million barrels, well beyond the 1.5 million-barrel build expected by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., can influence market trading.

Prices remain so low that oil is being stored at sea to avoid selling it at current market prices.

“Demand for oil appears to remain weak as traders are seeking as many as 10 supertankers to store crude,” Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy, said in a research note. “The carriers hold about 2 million barrels of crude and traders are seeking to lease the ships for three to nine months.”

Investors have been concerned that a conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could spread to the rest of oil-rich Middle East and affect supplies.

The 11-day Israeli air and ground offensive, which has killed about 600 people, has probably added about $10 to the price of oil, said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with ANZ Bank in Melbourne.

“The recent gains have been due to a one-off issue in the Middle East,” Pervan said. “Once that calms down, the market could be in for a correction back toward $40.”

On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have accepted an Egyptian-French plan for Gaza.

Sarkozy made no mention of Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and is fighting with Israel, and an Israeli government spokesman stopped short of endorsing the plan.

The escalating gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine has added to market uncertainty. Russia shut off all its gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. About 80 percent of its deliveries to Europe go through Ukraine.

Equity investors have so far this year brushed off signs of a severe global economic slowdown, pinning their hopes on a second half recovery spurred by massive government spending and lower interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrials, which are up 19 percent since Nov. 20, opened about 100 points lower on Wednesday.

Oil traders often look to stock markets as a barometer of investor sentiment about the economy.

“Consistent negative economic data over the coming weeks from the U.S. and elsewhere will likely be enough to water down this positive mood in the market right now,” said Pervan, who expects oil to average about $40 a barrel this year.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures dropped 6.3 cents to $1.1258 a gallon. Heating oil fell 5.4 cents to $1.572 a gallon while natural gas for February delivery fell 17.5 cents to $5.808 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude fell 87 cents to $49.66 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press writers Alex Kennedy in Singapore and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.

MILAN, Italy – A bumper harvest is expected to push Italian wine production above that of neighboring France for the first time in a decade, making Italy the world’s largest wine producer.

The Coldiretti farmers lobby estimates the production of Italian wine is up 8 percent over 2007 to 4.7 billion liters, compared with 4.44 billion liters in neighboring France, where production fell 5 percent.

Italy last surpassed France’s production in 1998, and has since been reducing the area of land cultivated as vineyards in favor of improving quality, Coldiretti’s wine expert Domenico Bosco said Wednesday.

Italy’s strong harvest is largely due to good weather, Bosco said, which helped Sicily, in particular, recover from lower 2007 yields caused by a deadly fungus there.

While production is up, Coldiretti said the quality of Italian wines is also improving, with 60 percent earning the right to bear labels specifying marks of quality such as geographic origin or adherence to regional winemaking rules and traditions.

Production estimates by Assoenologi, an association of Italian wine producers, are slightly lower at 44.5 billion liters, or an increase of 5 percent.

According to Assoenologi, that gives Italy a 17 percent share of the world wine market and one-third of the European market.

The presidents of the Japanese electronics rivals are holding a news conference later Friday in Osaka about their moves toward an alliance, both sides said.

According to a statement, they said: “Panasonic and Sanyo will start discussions with the aim of maximizing both companies’ corporate values by pursuing synergies between both companies.”

The decision to start the talks came at board meetings Friday, they said.

Speculation has been rife Panasonic Corp. is interested in buying Sanyo Electric Co.

Glass Fiber Inc., an aerospace fiberglass insulation supplier, will open a new manufacturing facility in the 88,000-square-foot former Imation building at 8500 S. Rita Road.

Operations are scheduled to begin in November with an estimated 90 employees and increase to 190 employees as sales demand increases. The business is expected to generate an annual payroll of $2.6 million, with the majority of the employees recruited from the Tucson region.

Louise Henderson to build bungalows in historic Willcox

Developer Louise Henderson is building five historic style bungalows in the Willcox Historic District.

Henderson is working with Mascot Homes & Construction, owned by Stephen Klump, as the contractor. The floor plans include both two and three bedrooms, two baths in each, with prices starting at $159,000.

Tucson Museum of Art achieves accreditation

The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block has achieved accreditation by the American Association of Museums.

AAM Accreditation is a seal of approval from the museum field that recognizes a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued institutional improvement. It also signifies that a museum fulfills its obligations to the public as set forth in its mission.

NES Rentals offers heavy equipment rentals in Tucson

NES Rentals is offering heavy equipment rental at its Tucson branch, at 4050 E. Columbia Street.

The brand-new fleet will consist of aerial work platforms, material lifts, compaction and earth-moving equipment, light towers, generators, welders, breakers, trenchers and utility-site vehicles. The equipment will come from a variety of manufacturers including Genie, Terex, Ditch Witch, Yanmar, Sullair and Skyjack.

Metro Car Wash opens East Speedway location

Metro Car Wash has opened a second location at 5150 E. Speedway Blvd.

The building’s design eliminated the overhead building, which reduced construction costs for the owners. Barker Morrissey Contracting did the work.

Carondelet buys Sahuarita property for $62M hospital

Carondelet Health Network has purchased property for the development of a regional hospital and medical services campus in the Green Valley/Sahuarita area.

The new campus is at the corner of Sahuarita Road and La Villita in the heart of the planned Sahuarita town center. Construction of the hospital is slated for 2010 with occupancy scheduled for 2011. The cost of the project is estimated at $62 million, with funds secured through a combination of Carondelet capital allocation and philanthropy.

Adecco’s employment processes get auditors’ OK

Adecco Engineering & Technical, a division of Adecco SA announced that the management and servicing processes used by its Tucson office to recruit, interview, select and place contract and full-time employees are registered to the ISO 9001:2000 standard for quality.

ISO 9001:2000 recognition, based on accepted international guidelines, is awarded after a company identifies its quality management systems, processes and procedures and subjects them to rigorous on-site examination by both internal auditors and independent third-party experts.

S. Arizona firms honored at 5th Cactus Quill awards

The Tucson chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators presented its 5th annual 2006 Cactus Quill awards recently.

The following were honored for excellence in business communication: ASU Research Publications; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona; Clerk of the Superior Court, Maricopa County; Family Legacy Video Inc.; Pima Association of Governments; Raytheon Missile Systems; SAHRA, University of Arizona; SCF Arizona; Southern Arizona Chapter of STC; and Western Sky Communications

3 firms tied to UA medical school get bioscience awards

Three companies with ties to the University of Arizona College of Medicine received Excellence in Bioscience Awards at the recent Arizona BioIndustry Association annual awards dinner.

AmpliMed Corp., a developer of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer, was Bioscience Company of the Year.

DMetrix was Bioscience Startup Company of the Year. Founded in 2001 as a UA spinoff, DMetrix has emerged as a leader in digital microscopy.

Ventana Medical Systems, the world’s leading supplier of automated diagnostic systems to the anatomical pathology market, was Medical Device Company of the Year.

Buffalo Exchange expands with 3rd L.A.-area store

Buffalo Exchange has opened a store in the Westwood section of Los Angeles at 10914 Kinross Ave. It is the company’s third Los Angeles location. Tucson-based Buffalo Exchange now has 27 stores and five franchises in 11 states.

Marana 1st to use Dream Builder Jurisdiction software

The town of Marana is the first municipality to use The Planning Center of Tucson’s new Dream Builder Jurisdiction software. The program allows jurisdictions to quickly evaluate building permits and monitor building projects.

It also helps evaluate multiple building permit applications, shortening the time needed to review building applications.

A second software program developed by The Planning Center, Dream Builder Sales Office, has also been implemented locally. Standard Pacific Homes is using it at the Miramonte at the River development site.

Ed Hardy to bring ‘tattoo fashions’ to Old Pueblo

Ed Hardy, a store with its flagship location on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, is opening a location in Tucson.

The store, which blends fashion design and the art of tattoo, will open at 905 E. University Blvd.

Tempe-based Sundt is nation’s 64th-largest construction firm

Sundt Construction, is the 64th-largest construction company in the United States, according to statistics compiled recently by Engineering News Record Magazine. The employee-owned company is headquartered in Tempe.

For 2005, Sundt reported revenue of $614 million and signed $828 million in new contracts during the year.

S. Arizona auto repair shops get top awards from AAA

Five southern Arizona auto repair shops have been rated Top Shops by AAA Arizona. Selected shops must meet more than 20 standards in order to be recognized by the Approved Auto Repair program.

The shops honored were: Hardin Brothers, Catalina; Hickey Automotive, Green Valley; Borst Automotive and AASTRO Transmission & Auto Repair, Tucson; and AASTRO Transmission & Auto Repair, Marana.

Hardin Brothers and Borst Automotive have been on the list for five years.

Royal Jaguar honored with ‘Pride of Jaguar Award’

Royal Jaguar in Tucson is one of 16 Jaguar dealers nationwide to receive the 2005 “Pride of Jaguar Award of Excellence” from Jaguar North America.

Jaguar executives evaluate dealerships from January through December. Evaluations are based 60 percent on customer satisfaction and 40 percent on sales performance.

Royal Jaguar is locally owned by Paul Weitman. Steve Lace is general manager of Royal Automotive Group, And Bill Ecklund is general manager of Royal Jaguar, 4670 N. Circuit Drive, in the Tucson Auto Mall.

This is the first time Royal Jaguar has been named a Pride of Jaguar Award of Excellence recipient

920-acre Madera Highlands opens south of Tucson

Madera Highlands, a 920-acre master-planned community near the pecan orchards south of Tucson, is now open.

Located near the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains and near the entrance to Madera Canyon, Madera Highlands’ first phase includes about 600 homes. A variety of neighborhoods will be built around a 13-acre village park concept.

Single-family homes are offered by Lennar, U.S. Home, Richmond American Homes and Meritage Homes. Faulkner Land Company is offering custom lots.

Heart Center of S. Arizona gets prestigious accreditation

The Heart Center of Southern Arizona announced it is the first echocardiography laboratory in southern Arizona to receive national accreditation from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories.

Accreditation is a voluntary process, but the designation acknowledges the laboratory’s high-quality cardiology care in the area of echocardiography. The Heart Center joins nine other laboratories in Arizona with this certification, putting it among the ranks of the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and Stanford University Medical Center.

ICE named Select Partner by Cisco Systems

International Consulting and Engineering has achieved the small and medium-size business Select Partner designation from Cisco Systems.

The Cisco designation recognizes ICE’s understanding of the networking needs and concerns of small- and medium-sized businesses, those with between 20 and 250 employees. Cisco provides ICE with the training, support, and resources necessary to provide the highest quality of services available to their SMB customers.

State agency wins job-creation award

Area Development magazine will recognize the Arizona Department of Commerce with its “Silver Shovel” award for the agency’s involvement in some of the nation’s top job-creating and investment projects in 2005.

The magazine based the award on the state agency’s efforts to create jobs and draw new investment to Arizona.

Assistance by the Department of Commerce in luring Pella Windows to Tucson, which is expected to create 300 new jobs and $30 million in capital investment, was cited by Area Development as one of the projects considered in granting the award to the state agency.

Skyline CC receives platinum designation

Skyline Country Club has been awarded Platinum Club of America status, a ranking that identifies the top-200 private country clubs in the United States.

The honor comes from the Club Leaders Forum, a national private-club industry publication.

The ranking is based on survey results from more than 6,000 private club managers and presidents. The designation places Skyline Country Club, 5200 E. St. Andrews Drive, in the top 3 percent of private clubs nationwide.

Firms have chance to market in Japan

Small- and medium-size Arizona companies interested in exporting can take advantage of the Arizona Department of Commerce’s invitation to participate in Japan’s Exposition of Analytical Instruments and Solutions show Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.

The agency would like to showcase Arizona’s optical and analytical companies by displaying marketing literature, brochures, panels and products. Representatives of the agency will pass out information about Arizona firms to prospective clients and, upon their return from Japan, provide businesses with a list of inquiries.

Participation is free.

Sponsors of this show included U.S. Commercial Services, the Japan External Trade Organization, the Trade and Industry of Japan and many others.

The show and the exhibitors include a wide variety of business fields including analytical instruments, entrusted analysis, analytical software, temporary staffing of analytical experts, and sensors and devices for analytical instruments.

For more information, call Karla Teixeira, international trade specialist, at (602) 771-1156, or e-mail karlat@azcommerce.com.