Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

About a quarter of low-income people in the Tucson area who are
eligible for Economic Stimulus Payments have yet to file a tax return,
according to the IRS.

Those people have until Oct. 15 to file electronically to receive a
check by the end of the year. People who have at least $3,000 in
earnings and/or benefits from Social Security, VA disability or a
Retired Railroad Worker’s pension and who normally don’t file income
tax returns may get free help to file a return by the deadline.

United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Catholic Community
Services and the IRS are hosting a one-day event from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at
the Pio Decimo Center, 848 S. Seventh Ave. on Oct. 14, to help area
residents file a 2007 tax return so they can receive the Economic
Stimulus Payment.

For more information, call 388-9153 Ext. 127.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

NEW YORK – Citigroup agreed Monday to purchase Wachovia’s banking
operations for $2.1 billion in a deal arranged by federal regulators,
making the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank the latest casualty of the
widening global financial crisis.

The deal greatly expands Citigroup’s retail franchise – giving it a
total of more than 4,300 U.S. branches and $600 billion in deposits -
and secures its place among the U.S. banking industry’s Big Three,
along with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Six Arizona Builders’ Alliance member companies have been recognized for their volunteer construction work in a learning laboratory that also is a renova tion project at Catalina Magnet High School, 3645 E. Pima St.
Bright Design Associates, Achilles Air Conditioning Systems, Madera Mechanical Co., Wilson Electric, GES Construction and Universal Wallboard Corp. contributed advice, labor and materials to help convert an abandoned lock er room at the school into a learning laboratory for teaching heating, ventilation and air con ditioning technology.
The HVAC lab will be used by students during school hours, and as part of the ABA adult apprentice program in the evenings.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Lane Affiliated Companies, which owns Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Tucson, 3131 E. Transcon Way, has signed a letter of intent to sell the company to Pepsi Bottling Group.
Lane has its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Col., where it also has a production facility. The firm also has warehouses in Yuma, Casa Grande and Las Cruces, N.M. It is the eighth largest independent Pepsi bot tler in the Pepsi system, employ ing about 600 people, 313 of them at the Tucson plant.
“We have always tried to be good corporate citizens, and we would like to thank all of our employees, customers and con sumers in the Tucson communi ty we have served for contribut ing to our success,” said David Lane, president of Lane Affiliated Companies, in a release.
The deal is expected to go through in 60 to 70 days, said Mary Dunkel, marketing direc tor at Pepsi-Cola of Tucson.
Pepsi Bottling Group is the largest Pepsi bottler in the world, with operations through out North America, Eastern and Western Europe, and Russia.
Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Harvest Properties Inc. of Tucson settled a consumer fraud lawsuit
with the state that alleged foreclosure rescue fraud and mortgage fraud
by the company and its owners.

The settlement, which comes in the form of a consent judgment and
does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing, requires Harvest and
its owners and managers to pay $350,000 in restitution to approximately
100 consumers.

The company, owned and managed by Colin Sterling Reilly, Robert
Harrington Reilly and Jill Lynae Reilly, is an Arizona franchisee of
HomeVestors, a national company that purchases “distressed” homes below
market value. It also did business under the name Harrington Sterling
Holdings LLC.

HomeVestors is widely known for its billboards reading “We Buy Ugly Homes.com” and “Ug Buys Ugly Homes.”

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

The number of homes for sale in the Tucson area in August fell,
indicating the market may be stabilizing, according to figures released
by Tucson Association of Realtors.

However, the median sales price of homes continues to fall here. It
was $185,000 in August, down $14,000 from July. The highest median
sales price was recorded in November 2005, when it hit $226,000,
Multiple Listing Service figures show.

The number of homes for sale in August was 7,763. During the late
1990s and through 2004, the number of active listings generally ran
between 3,600 and 5,000.

The average number of days on the market also fell in August. It dropped to 77 from a high of 83 in January.

“Although the bottom of our market will continue to be bumpy, the
positive aspects reinforce that we are in a recovering market,” wrote
Kimberly Clifton, MLS president.

Citizen Staff Report

Tucson Citizen and The Arizona Republic
IN BRIEF

Tucson Citizen and The Arizona Republic

Consumer financial stresses aren’t showing signs of abating as Tucson-area bankruptcy filings in August climbed 34 percent above the number filed a year ago.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tucson recorded 352 filings in August as consumers struggled with housing woes, job losses and other problems.

U.S. filings rose 29 percent in August to 96,413, hitting the highest total in nearly three years, the American Bankruptcy Institute and National Bankruptcy Research Center reported.

Tucson’s job-growth engine has slipped into reverse. The local economy had 6,000 fewer jobs last month than in July 2007, according to latest figures from the Department of Economic Security.

Also, housing prices here are weak.

The median price of resale homes in Tucson dipped in June, to $188,726 from $195,000 in May, and foreclosure sales accounted for 17 percent of all resales in June, according the Southern Arizona Housing Market Letter,

“You’re seeing this domino effect,” Phoenix bankruptcy attorney Diane L. Drain said.

The list, she said, now includes subcontractors hurt by the housing slump, the upper echelon stretched too thin and homeowners caught by a surprise freeze in their home-equity lines of credit.

“Unemployment, medical problems and divorces still drive many bankruptcies, as before,” Drain said. “But, now, you’re seeing problems with real-estate people, investors and others.”

Three-quarters of Tucson-area filings are Chapter 7s, which offer a fresh start to people who qualify.

Most of the rest are Chapter 13 procedures built around debt-repayment plans.

The Tucson bankruptcy court includes filings from Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties. Nearly 90 percent of all Arizona filings are in Pima and Pinal counties.

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

The Tucson Airport Authority will roll out a new credit and debit card payment system for its parking lots next month.

The Airport will offer promotional rates for EasyPay customers to prompt people to use the system to pay for parking.

The automated system has pay stations near the baggage claim and
near the elevator inside the parking garage that will accept credit and
debit cards. One of the outgoing lanes also will accept credit or debit
card payments.

The $2.4 million project also includes new signage and renaming the airport parking lots.

Parking rates range from $1 per half hour in the hourly lot to $3 per day in the economy lot.

Citizen Staff Report

The Associated Press
IN BRIEF

DETROIT – Nearly every major automaker saw U.S. sales drop in
August, but many saw signs that the worst slump in recent history may
have bottomed out.

Most upbeat were executives from General Motors Corp., which posted
a 20.3 percent sales decline from a year ago but a 31 percent
improvement over July’s dismal totals.

Chrysler LLC said its U.S. sales fell more than 34 percent in
August. Ford Motor Co. reported a 26.5 percent decline. Toyota Motor
Corp.’s sales dipped 9.4 percent, and Honda Motor Co. saw a 7.3 percent
slide.

Nissan Motor Co. saw August sales climb 13.6 percent from a year ago.

The Associated Press

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Online listing service subject of BBB warning

Representatives of the National Yellow Pages Online are using
misleading and confusing statements to obtain agreements from
businesses to pay $390 for an online listing, according to reports
filed with Better Business Bureaus in 30 states.

The company also implies it is associated with the Yellow Pages telephone directory, the complaints say.

After a phone call, in which the person who answers is asked to
verify information about the business to renew an online ad, the
business receives an invoice requesting it pay for the listing, the
reports say. If they don’t pay, businesses say, they are sent
additional invoices with late charges and threatened with collections.

If you have been billed by the company and are unable to resolve the
matter, you can file a complaint at tucson.bbb.org or e-mail your
complaint to complaints@tucson.bbb.org.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Terracon Consultants Inc. has been added to Pima County’s list of
consulting firms qualified to provide environmental services. County
departments may negotiate directly with Terracon for lower-cost jobs.

Terracon provides geotechnical, environmental and construction materials testing services.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Southern Arizona consumers may get estimates from Better Business Bureau members with a new program from the bureau.

BBB E-Quote, online at tucson.bbb.org allows customers to submit a
request for estimates by entering the service and then making
selections from the list of businesses. Those businesses are sent an
e-mail with the consumer’s contact information.

All businesses who provide BBB with a valid e-mail participate, so
consumers or businesses can get bids from roofers, landscapers,
mechanics, contractors, business consultants, accountants, marketing
firms, air-conditioning specialists and more.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Letters from an organization posing as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
mortgage lending companies are a scam, the Better Business Bureau of
Southern Arizona warns.

The letters, being sent nationwide, announce a lottery that gives
people who lost a home a bogus chance to buy another. According to the
letter, the F & F Equity Draw has $50 million to give away, and
recipients “have emerged a winner . . . of $5 million.”

When a BBB representative contacted the phony agency, he was told to
use Western Union to wire $850 to a Las Vegas location. Individuals who
fall for this scam will lose the money they send in and will receive
nothing in return.

If you receive a letter proclaiming you are a winner, contact your
BBB at 888-5353 or the local postal inspector’s office at 388-5311. If
you receive an e-mail, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at
ftc.gov.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Psomas, a California-based engineering firm with offices in Tucson,
was named one of the top 100 green design firms in the nation by
Engineering News Record.

Rankings were based on firms’ 2007 revenue from design projects
registered with and seeking certification from ratings groups such the
U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design standards, according to ENR publishers.

Citizen Staff Report

Citizen Staff Report
IN BRIEF

Soaring fuel prices, soaring airline ticket prices and other
economic woes have not slowed passengers using Tucson International
Airport through the first seven months of this year.

TIA recorded a 1.23 percent uptick in passengers, with 2,658,656
using the airport from January through July compared to 2,626,384 in
the same period last year, the airport reported.

The airport saw drops in passenger counts of 2.42 percent for June
and 3.34 percent for July, but that was expected with airlines cutting
capacity and increasing airfares for summer, said Bonnie Allin, chief
executive of the Tucson Airport Authority.

“The fact that year-to-date traffic is still ahead of last year is
positive, since we are comparing this year to the highest year on
record in the history of Tucson International Airport,” Allin said in a
news release. “Tucson International is still ahead of the game.”

That may not continue into fall, as flights at TIA will offer 18 percent fewer seats, Allin said.

Citizen Staff Report