Yellow

Young entrepreneur Joseph A. Mathews was looking for a business venture that would improve communications between advertisers and consumers when he struck on a simple idea that he thinks takes traditional Yellow Pages directories to another level.Next month, by dialing 555-NEED, people who live in the Baltimore area will be able to make a free call to an operator who can provide product and service information previously obtained from printed telephone directories."We wanted to take all that purchasing and buying information and build a brand around it," said Mathews, 28, CEO and founder of Nexus Communications, based in Hanover.

Good morning -- Floyd Landis -- You probably never thought you looked that great in yellow anyway.

A long-running dispute between state Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan and a contractor that provides van and taxi services to the disabled escalated yesterday as Flanagan said he would begin withholding part of the firm's payments if service does not improve. Flanagan said the Maryland Transit Administration halted negotiations on a possible three-month contract extension with Yellow Transportation Inc. and will stop doing business with the company July 1. He said Yellow's service had deteriorated significantly in recent months.

Links DIY Painterly Party Cups [via DesignSponge] Why pay extra for party cups, when you can make your own? DIY Convert an old suitcase into a picnic kit [via Curbly] I love a picnic, especially when you can make your own picnic basket! Wedding Inspiration: Yellow accent [via stylemepretty] Love the yellow accents in this Bay-area wedding gallery Books "Apartment Gardening" by Amy Pennington $12.89, amazon.com This looks like a pretty cool book for people who want to garden indoors with little space.

BEIJING -- Chinese railway authorities have launched an all-out attack on "yellow bulls" in and around their 5,700 train stations nationwide. While the term evokes some new strain of hoof-and-mouth disease, it is, in fact, a century-old Chinese term for ticket scalpers. "Even the cooks on our trains have been called to the front lines to fight yellow bulls," said Jiang Zhanlin, director of the Railway Ministry's police department. "We're prepared to fight as long as it takes." The Railway Ministry has announced an anti-yellow bull "Blue Shield Action" campaign, in and around Chinese New Year, the busiest holiday of the year, which begins tomorrow.

The top executives of Preston Trucking Corp. resigned yesterday as Yellow Freight System Inc. completed the final steps in acquiring the troubled Eastern Shore trucking company.William Potter, former chairman of Preston Corp., and William Tarrell, former president of the company's trucking unit, Preston Trucking Co., resigned after the tender offer to acquire Preston Corp. was completed.Yellow said yesterday that its chairman, George Powell III, had been elected chairman of Preston Corp. and that Leo Suggs, a former senior vice president of corporate development for Yellow, will serve as president of Preston Corp.

A rare element of promise entered Tyrone DeGrace's young life last year. Among hundreds of special education students shortchanged by the Baltimore schools, Tyrone came in line for court-ordered help: free enrollment at a private school for learning-disabled children. The job of getting 11-year-old Tyrone the six miles from his West Baltimore housing project to school - the linchpin for the arrangement - fell to the state's "Mobility" program, intended to be a transportation lifeline for thousands of disabled people in the Baltimore area.

ADVERTISING in the telephone book hasn't been the same since the early 1980s when AT&T was forced to break up into competing independent phone companies. Once the Yellow Pages published by the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. was the only game in town. But in recent years a competing volume has been marketed by Donnelley, which combined forces with Southwestern Bell to produce The One Book. Others publish smaller, localized versions of the Yellow Pages.Business owners trying to decide whether to advertise in the various telephone books should understand the options available.

Stage 6 A mainly flat, 141.3-mile run from Montargis to Gueugnon. Winner: Britain's Mark Cavendish won the 12th Tour stage of his career and second in two days. Yellow jersey: Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, who finished in the main pack. Lance Armstrong remained 18th, 2:30 back. Next stage: Saturday's seventh stage is a 102.8-mile trek from Tournus to Station des Rousses that has six low- to mid-grade climbs in the Jura mountains. — Associated Press