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5 Big Stories: The Week in Business

A look back at the week's top business stories.

By Jeff Harrington, Times Deputy Business Editor
Published January 20, 2008

1. State gets tough with Allstate

Insurance regulators ban Allstate from writing new policies after refusing to turn over documents.

What it means:Allstate wins an important round with a court-ordered stay against the ban, but regulators are looking at fines if they can't get an inside look at the company's rate-setting formulas.

2. Inflation reaches 17-year high

Food and gas prices push inflation up 4.1 percent in 2007.

What it means:Sure, gas prices were up (29.6 percent), but the price of a carton of eggs rose more (32.6 percent), and milk (22 percent) and bread (11.3 percent) weren't far behind.

3. Slowdown catches up with tourism

Pinellas hotel occupancy numbers and traffic at Tampa International Airport are down.

What it means:The dropoff is relatively slight, but enough to convince the county's tourism research consultant that "a recession is here."

4. Watch out for the cold meds

The Food and Drug Administration says that children younger than 2 shouldn't take cough and cold medicines and that there's no evidence they work.

What it means: This comes three months after drug companies voluntarily pulled 14 medicines off store shelves. More changes could be afoot as the FDA reviews if the medicines should be used for children ages 2 to 11.

5. Plug it in

Chrysler, GM and Toyota all talk about plug-in concept cars at the North American International Auto Show.

What it means:A year ago, GM made a splash with its electric Volt concept vehicle; now all automakers are rushing to roll out electric cars as high gas prices show no signs of abating.

[Last modified January 18, 2008, 22:45:47]