AirTran adding BWI flights to Bahamas, Jamaica
AirTran Airways announced Thursday schedules for new service to Nassau, Bahamas, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, including nonstop flights to BWI Marshall Airport. The flights will start Dec. 17 to Nassau and Feb. 11 to Montego Bay, pending government approval. BWI will have one daily flight to Montego Bay and two Nassau flights with service four days a week. The Florida-based airline filed applications last month with the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin offering service to the Caribbean.
- Andrea K. Walker
European regulators examine Oracle-Sun deal
Oracle, the software giant that has been gobbling up companies during the recession, hit a regulatory speed bump in its $7.4 billion bid to acquire Sun Microsystems as Europe's antitrust watchdog announced plans to investigate the deal. The European Commission's competition bureau said Thursday that it had launched an in-depth review of the merger to examine how it could impact competition in the software industry. The probe comes one month after the U.S. Justice Department cleared the acquisition. Specifically, the European Commission said it would examine whether Oracle would continue to develop Sun's rival open-source database software MySQL. Open-source is an approach to software development that allows anyone to use the source code to develop applications. Sun's software could be a more affordable alternative to "proprietary solutions" - such as the paid-for software programs offered by Oracle.
-The Washington Post
Dealers to get 'clunkers' money by Sept. 30
WASHINGTON - The government has approved $500 million in reimbursements to car dealers for sales under the Cash for Clunkers program and dealers should be paid by late September, officials said Thursday. Auto dealers have complained that the Obama administration has been slow to pay them for the car purchase incentives of up to $4,500. The rebates led to 690,114 new sales at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion. A Transportation official said 120,000 submissions from dealers, or about 17 percent, have been approved under the program, which ended on Aug. 24. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to speak publicly about the data before a congressional briefing. All eligible and completed dealer submissions should be fully paid by Sept. 30, the official said.
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Associated Press
Number of Americans on food stamps rises
WASHINGTON - More Americans than ever before received food stamps in June, the Department of Agriculture said on Thursday, with more than 35 million Americans receiving assistance. The numbers are 22 percent higher than in June 2008. The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose by more than 700,000 people compared with May. June was the eighth straight month that the number of people on food stamps rose.
- Associated Press
