NATIONAL

Rep may target ban on online gambling

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is considering legislation that would overturn the ban on online gambling passed last fall.

A spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Wednesday the congressman may introduce a bill to reverse the Internet gambling law, but he stressed there is nothing concrete yet.

"There's no draft, no text - this is very much still in the thinking stage," said spokesman Steve Adamske.

MORE GAME TITLES Video gamers who use PCs soon will have access to some Xbox 360 titles and, in some cases, will be able to challenge opponents playing the same game on the Xbox console, Microsoft said Wednesday.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker's first move to broaden cross-platform play is set for May 8, when Microsoft begins selling Halo 2, originally designed as an Xbox game, for PCs with the Vista operating system.

BANK BUSINESS SETTLES Bank of America's securities business agreed to pay $26 million to settle federal regulators' charges of publishing fraudulent research reports on companies and failing to prevent advance leaks of reports that were used for improper trading, federal regulators said Wednesday.

Banc of America Securities LLC also was censured by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which announced the settlement, the latest move in the agency's crackdown on alleged conflicts of interest at Wall Street investment firms that have skewed analysts' research.

WORLD

GlaxoSmithKline unit fined over pricing

GlaxoSmithKline's French unit was fined $13.2 million for hindering the use of generic drugs in hospitals through a "predatory" pricing policy on an injectable antibiotic, French regulators said Wednesday.

Regulators said that in 1999 and 2000, the Glaxo laboratory sold injectable Zinnat below cost to freeze generic drug manufacturers out of the hospital market.

A GlaxoSmithKline PLC spokesman was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. It was the first case in France to penalize predatory pricing.

LOCAL

Frontier to buy back 300,000 of its shares

Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced Wednesday it will buy back up to 300,000 of its shares, which the company will contribute to its employee stock ownership plan.

The second-largest carrier at Denver International Airport said it will make the repurchases "from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions" in compliance with securities laws and other legal requirements.

FIGHT URGED The Sierra Club is urging its members in northeastern Wyoming to oppose construction of a planned coal-fired power plant near Gillette.

Adam Rissien, associate regional representative of the Sierra Club in Sheridan, said his group has sent out an alert encouraging its members to oppose Basin Electric Power Cooperative's application for a state air- quality permit.

WI-FI LAUNCHED The city of Longmont has deployed a high-speed Wi-Fi network built by a MobilePro Corp. subsidiary known as Kite Networks.

The network, owned and operated by Kite Networks, covers about 22 square miles with 600 wireless access points. Users in Longmont can gain access to the network at www.kite.net/longmont. Douglas County-based CH2M Hill provided technical and management assistance in the project.

INTERNET RETAILER SOLD BabyUniverse Inc., an Internet retailer of baby and maternity products, agreed to be acquired by closely held EToys Direct Inc. in an all-stock transaction.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Shareholders of Denver-based EToys will own two-thirds of the combined company's stock, while shareholders of BabyUniverse will own one-third. EToys Chief Executive Officer Michael Wagner will be CEO of the combined company, and BabyUniverse CEO John Textor will be chairman.

ECONOMY

U.S. trade deficit hit all-time high in 2006

The deficit in the broadest measure of trade hit an all-time high in 2006, and for the first time the United States ran a deficit on investment income.

The Commerce Department reported that the imbalance in the current account jumped by 8.2 percent to $856.7 billion, representing a record 6.5 percent of the total economy. It marked the fifth straight year the current account deficit set a record.

Investment flows turned negative by $7.3 billion from a surplus of $11.3 billion in 2005. It was the first time investment income has been negative on records going back to 1929. That means foreigners earned more on their U.S. holdings than Americans earned on their overseas investments.

While the U.S. has run deficits in its trade in goods every year since 1976, until last year it had still been able to record a surplus in investments.

Analysts said that figure turned negative because of the large amount of U.S. assets that have been transferred to foreign hands in the past three decades to pay for the imported cars, clothing and electronic goods Americans love to buy.

THIS JUST IN . . .

• Applications are being accepted from Colorado companies for the Governor's Award for Excellence in Exporting. Applications are due April 13, and winners will be recognized at World Trade Day on May 17. For more information or to request an application, call 303-892-3850.

• Gregory B. Kanan of Denver- based Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP has been elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers.

• Schwander Insurance Services has hired Bonnie K. Reps to lead its private-client insurance department.

• The JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek was ranked third out of 343 full-service Marriotts for overall guest satisfaction at the 2006 Marriott International Global Operations and Leadership Conferences. Bob Trotter, hotel general manager, received the Marriott Spirit to Serve Award, and Jenni Gaherty, director of sales and marketing, was honored as the Property Sales Leader of the Year.

• Colorado State Library appointed Nicolle Steffen as director of library research service.

• Trust Company of America, headquartered in Centennial, appointed Mark Massa as vice president of client services and operations.

• CollegeInvest, Colorado's not-for-profit higher education financing resource, has named Jennifer Robinson as chief marketing officer.

• Recipients of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado's 2007 New Faces in Engineering are Scott Paling and Britton Evans of Martin/ Martin; Jamie Eichenberger and Kevin Greer of Richard P. Arber Associates Inc.; and Jennifer Stillman of Engineering Inc. Sarah Clark of HDR Engineering Inc. was named the 2007 Outstanding Woman in Engineering.

• Jeff Potter, president and chief executive officer of Frontier Airlines, and Donna Lynne, president of Kaiser Permanente, have been named to Metropolitan State College of Denver's foundation board.

• Mark Smith was named the top-ranked financial adviser in Colorado serving accounts less than $1 million by the Winner's Circle, an independent advocacy organization that recognizes outstanding financial advisers.

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