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In brief

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 4, 2006

Rays brass sees some wins in losing season

Though the club lost lots of cash this season, management says its business plan is on track.

Pair of insurers' rate hike requests rejected

Since 2004, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved 69 percent of requests by property insurance companies for rate increases. That wasn't the case Tuesday. Regulators rejected a requested 78.9 percent statewide average rate increase for Cincinnati Insurance Cos. and a requested 92.4 percent statewide average increase for Home Pointe Insurance. Cincinnati has 12,967 policyholders in Florida and Home Pointe has 21,899. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said the filings "failed to justify this level of an increase and were deficient in several areas." The companies can request a hearing, seek arbitration or modify their filing.

Airbus' latest delay could cancel orders

Airbus parent EADS said Tuesday that the flagship A380 superjumbo jet will be delayed for another year and Virgin Atlantic and Emirates - the plane's biggest customer - hinted that the new setbacks could lead to order cancellations. In a statement issued after its second board meeting in four days, EADS said the latest delays will cut an extra 2.8-billion euros ($3.6-billion) off operating profit and announced a restructuring plan to cut costs and boost productivity at Airbus.

Miami Herald publisher quits amid firing fallout

The Miami Herald's publisher resigned Tuesday after coming under pressure for firing three journalists at its Spanish-language sister paper who were paid to appear on U.S. government broadcasts, saying the newspapers were now strengthening their conflict-of-interest policies. Jesus Diaz Jr., the papers' publisher since July 2005, said El Nuevo Herald was offering to rehire the reporters because the ethics policies in the past were "ambiguously communicated, inconsistently applied and widely misunderstood." David Landsberg, a longtime Herald employee who served as general manager, took over as company president and publisher of the two newspapers.

Toyota sets the pace again in September

Toyota Motor Corp. trounced the domestic automakers in the U.S. marketplace last month, posting a 25 percent year-over-year sales increase. General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG each saw their sales slip by a few percentage points, while Ford Motor Co.'s sales gained 4.7 percent. GM's sales fell 3.1 percent last month. DaimlerChrysler said its overall decrease of 2.3 percent stemmed mostly from U.S. subsidiary Chrysler Group. Sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles rose 13.2 percent. Ford's increase over the same month last year was fueled largely by car sales, which rose 26.2 percent, while its truck sales fell 5.5 percent. The figures are for all Ford brands, including Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover.

[Last modified October 3, 2006, 23:45:35]