Casino expansion to open Oct. 10
GREENVILLE, Miss. -- Tropicana Entertainment expects to open its expanded gambling operation and resort in October.
The casino is adding new table games and 300 more slot machines, including a high-limit area.
Max & Erma's, a full-service casual dining restaurant chain, will open along with a new VIP lounge and a live entertainment area on the casino floor. A 140-space underground parking garage will also open.
Roscoe Greene, general manager of Trop Greenville, said in a news release the public is invited to join in the opening ceremony and celebration at 11 a.m. on Oct. 10.
Tropicana is a publicly traded company that, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates eight casinos and resorts in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Missouri, New Jersey and Aruba. The company is based in Las Vegas.
-- The Associated Press
S&P June home-price index rises 8.1%
WASHINGTON -- U.S. home prices increased at a slower pace in June -- a cooldown that could continue for several more months.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 8.1 percent in June from 12 months earlier, according to a Tuesday report. That's down from 9.4 percent per month earlier and the smallest annual gain since December 2012.
Yearly price growth weakened in all 20 cities. Home values in Cleveland nudged up just 0.8 percent. Las Vegas led with a 15.2 percent gain. But prices in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami and Tampa, Florida, are still at least 33 percent below their housing bubble peaks of almost a decade ago.
The deceleration should help ease some of the price pressures on would-be buyers. After slumping at the start of 2014, previously owned home sales have picked up as price gains have slowed. But buying remains 4.3 percent below the July 2013 level, according to the National Realtors Association.
-- The Associated Press
Ex-Porsche CEO charged in takeover try
A German court revived criminal charges against two former Porsche SE executives involving a failed takeover of Volkswagen AG, saying prosecutors' findings indicate it "seems quite likely" the company hid its plan.
The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court in an Aug. 18 ruling released Tuesday ordered former Chief Executive Officer Wendelin Wiedeking and ex-Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter to stand trial on market-manipulation charges. The court said Porsche's board may have approved the deal seven months before the company announced its intentions and discussed it with state officials.
Porsche has faced investigations and lawsuits since disclosing in October 2008 that it had access to 74.1 percent of Volkswagen AG, partly through options, and was seeking to acquire 75 percent as part of a takeover strategy. The criminal case may be positive for the civil cases seeking more than $6.6 billion filed by investors who claim Porsche had decided to acquire its rival months before disclosing the plan.
The charges will be found meritless at trial, lawyers for both men said in a joint, emailed statement. Porsche's releases about the takeover were accurate at all times, they said.
-- Bloomberg News
Citigroup trades draw $1.85 million fine
Citigroup Inc. will pay a $1.85 million fine and return more than $638,000 to customers after its securities unit failed to get the best prices for clients in about 22,000 trades over more than three years, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Tuesday.
A Citigroup trading desk used manual pricing for non-convertible preferred securities that led the bank to provide customers with prices that were inferior to the national best bid and offer in 14,800 instances, according to Finra's statement. Citigroup's order execution system, BondsDirect, also failed to locate the best prices in more than 7,200 cases because it only checked the securities' primary listing exchange, according to Finra.
"Citigroup lacked the necessary systems and supervision to ensure that it provided customers with the executions they deserved and, as a result, customers were receiving inferior prices for more than three years," Thomas Gira, executive vice president for market regulation, said in the statement.
The New York-based bank neither admitted to nor denied the allegations, according to the statement. "We are pleased to have the matter resolved," Scott Helfman, a spokesman for the bank, said in an e-mail.
-- Bloomberg News
Turner Broadcasting offers 600 buyouts
NEW YORK -- The corporate parent of CNN, TNT and TBS offered voluntary buyouts Tuesday to 600 veteran employees, part of an overall cost-cutting effort at the Atlanta-based broadcasting company founded by Ted Turner.
The offer went out to U.S.-based employees who are over 55 and have worked at the company for at least 10 years, excluding on-air talent and others with specific contracts. Some 9,000 of Turner's 13,000 employees are based in the United States.
The company would not comment Tuesday, saying it should become clear this fall how many employees it will be shedding. Turner Broadcasting chief executive John Martin has been talking for several months about a restructuring plan he has called Turner 2020.
Turner also owns The Cartoon Network, HLN, Tru TV and Turner Classic Movies.
-- The Associated Press
Northwest grain handlers OK contract
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Employees who had been embroiled in a lengthy and sometimes violent labor dispute voted Wednesday to return to work for three Northwest grain merchants -- in time for the wheat harvest.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said 88 percent of its members voted to ratify a contract running through May 2018. It includes work rule changes and raises.
The grain handlers association says the agreement is fair and would allow the companies to remain competitive.
Louis Dreyfus Commodities, United Grain and Columbia Grain operate grain terminals in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, Wash. More than a quarter of all U.S. grain exports move through nine terminals on the Columbia River and Puget Sound.
Two years of negotiations, lockouts and occasional violence centered on the companies' efforts to get managementfriendly work rules to match those at other area terminals.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 08/27/2014