Strategy

A California study suggests minors flashing licenses too quickly are often able to buy cigarettes.

A two-month streak of hefty increases mercifully comes to an end.

Slashing demand for gasoline is the only responsible way to fight soaring U.S. pump prices, environmentalists say.

Valero Energy Corp. and Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp. weren't the only two oil companies making merger news today as Williams Cos. Inc. agreed to buy oil and natural gas company Barrett Resources Corp. for approximately $2.5 billion in cash and stock.

In the Tri-Cities area, Aztex has sold four stations to Mountain Empire Oil. The company has a purchase agreement for the sale of its nine Nashville stores and two pieces of vacant property there to Parman Oil Co.

Ignited by lightning storms and stoked by the winds of an especially hot, dry summer, wildfires swept through Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota and northern Nevada this summer, destroying well over 3.5 million acres of forest.

With the petroleum business slowly returning to normal in Europe, retailers in the United States expressed concern that aggressive consumer behavior demonstrated overseas could be an ominous sign of things to come this winter if fuel prices keep rising.

The job cuts, meant to save $75 million a year, are in addition to an early retirement program offered to 970 workers. Those employees have until October to decide if they want to retire.