Ashland Says Marathon Deal Likely Off
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Ashland Inc. ASH.N on Monday said  the $3 billion deal to sell its stake in refining joint venture  Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC to Marathon Oil Corp. MRO.N  will likely be scuttled due to an adverse ruling by the U.S.  Internal Revenue Service.
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Suffolk Downs, caught in the middle of a dispute between the MidAtlantic Cooperative and the New York Racing Association, is unable to simulcast races from Belmont Park.
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By Chris Woodka, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.  Dec. 13--LAMAR - Kansas' top water official expressed concern about the possibility of a 40-year contract between Aurora and the Bureau of Reclamation at Tuesday's meeting of the Arkansas River Compact Administration.
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Celtics guard Tony Allen is not expected to get a contract extension before the Oct. 31 deadline, according to an NBA source.
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Marathon Oil Corp. and Ashland Inc. reported Monday that the Internal Revenue Service intends to rule against giving tax-free status to Marathon&#39;s planned purchase of Ashland&#39;s minority interest in Marathon
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(InfoWorld) - Backers of a massive wireless network for California's Silicon Valley have yet to build promised test networks or complete a model agreement for local governments, but at least one executive expects those to be finished by year's end. The project has slid past its original scheduleÂ and still faces negotiations with about 40 municipalities spread across a 1,500-square-mile region, even as municipal wireless runs into tough times in neighboring San Francisco and elsewhere around the U.S. But despite gloomy media reports, organizers are promising results soon. A model agreement should be completed in the fourth quarter, said Anne-Marie Fowler, a principal at SeaKay Inc., part of the Silicon Valley Metro Connect vendor consortium that will build the project. That deal will be the template for customized contracts with each city. Proof-of-concept networks in Palo Alto and San Carlos should be completed around the same time, she said. The 1-square-mile test networks will first be open to city governments thinking about participating in the plan and then be available to the public for 60 to 90 days, she said. It's a brave forecast for a project that at one time was expected to start rolling out in January or February of this year and is still on paper. Participants blame ever-changing technology and the complexity of hammering out a deal covering multiple technologies and as many as seven different services. But in a shaky market for municipal wireless, any delay can cause jitters. A report in the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week said the initiative was in danger of collapse. It quoted Russ Hancock, chief executive of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, the nonprofit group organizing the initiative, saying the group was ready to scrap the project. Not so, according to Seth Fearey, vice president and chief operating officer at Joint Venture, though he added that the group is always looking at how it can move the project forward and thinking about alternatives. Hancock was misquoted, he said. The group is still in talks with Metro Connect over the basic agreement they will bring to individual cities, and there are only a few things left to be resolved, he said. "It's up to the Metro Connect team to make this thing happen," Fearey said. "We're pushing them as hard as we can." Once the model agreement is drawn up, Metro Connect will take it to local governments and customize it for their needs. Cities would grant rights to facilities such as light poles for mounting radios, after which Metro Connect will be able to offer residents a subscription service. ButÂ the network is envisioned as more than just Wi-Fi.Â Metro Connect is considering pre-WiMax wide-area wireless, special networks for public safety and transit, and environmental sensor networks. Cisco Systems Inc. and IBM Corp., along with network builder and operator Azulstar Inc., make up the rest of Metro Connect. The Silicon Valley plan is different from failed deals such as San Francisco's, executives said. Metro Connect won't just build a network and count on advertisers or residential subscribers to support it, Fowler said. "We don't ask one revenue source to carry the whole day," she said. Many cities have expressed interest in paying to use the network for communications in the field and specialized functions such as meter reading, she said. The consortium is approaching schools and corporations about buying services, too. There will be a free ad-based service, but if ads don't support it, the service can still survive, she said. Some critics have said the plan, estimated to cost $100 million or more, is too ambitious. Craig Settles, an independent municipal network consultant who has worked with some cities in the area, has said the organizers should have started out with fewer technologies for a few targeted applications to build interest, then expanded later. But Metro Connect's Fowler says the complexity and scale, though they have caused delays, will generate enthusiasm. "We realized we had something bigger than what we thought," she said. "I would, of course, like to have started earlier, but ... I would not have wanted to start with a smaller vision." Â
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Elite runners generally run only one marathon a season, so some top Americans who will prepare for the 2008 Summer Games will be forgoing appearance fees and potential prize money.
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By JAY FITZGERALD  The America Online gold-digging battle has reached a temporary stalemate, despite what appeared to be a tentative agreement last month to allow the Internet giant to search a Westwood property where a neo-Nazi scammer may have buried loot.
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By themselves, the latest airline merger gambits -- a United Airlines- Continental Airlines combination and a hostile takeover of Midwest Airlines by AirTran Airways -- would have no major impact on Boston air travelers using Logan International Airport.
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BOSTON -- Although published reports yesterday claimed that Bank of America Corp. plans to layoff hundreds of employees at Fleet Banks throughout Massachusetts, Fall River area branches had not received official word by closing time Wednesday, according ...
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Two officials differ on the future of a storied outdoor race.
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&quot;I hope and think that in the end a solution will be found and it will be on as usual,&quot; Mosley told BBC Sport. &quot;At the moment, as I understand it, there is still no contract between Bernie and the organisers.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. A pending tax ruling threatens to unravel a three (B) billion dollar consolidation deal involving Houston-based Marathon Oil.
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The threatened buyout of student lender Sallie Mae may still go ahead -- but the $25 billion price tag could be negotiated down.
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Officials are examining the possibility of cancelling tomorrowâs running because of the poor conditions, while Schumacher went fastest of the day.
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A consortium that had agreed to buy the student lender Sallie Mae for $25 billion said Thursday that it was unwilling to complete the deal at the current price.
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A final decision will be made by the companyâs controlling family, the Bancrofts, which could seek to scuttle the sale.