Briefcase: Spokane firm to provide New Mexico job services

Spokane-based SL Start and Associates has been selected to help needy New Mexicans get jobs through that state’s welfare-to-work program.

The New Mexico Human Services Department has awarded an $8.7 million, one-year contract to the company, founded in 1979 to find better ways to support people with disabilities to live and work in the community.

SL Start and Associates, which provides services for children and adults in about 26 cities in Washington and Idaho, was selected through a competitive bidding process.

New Mexico State University previously had the state contract to provide job services to low-income residents in the welfare-to-work program.

Staff reports

Median overdraft fee at nation’s banks $35

NEW YORK – The country’s largest banks are still charging steep overdraft fees.

A survey released Wednesday by the Consumer Federation of America found that the median overdraft fee is $35, the same as it was last year. The highest fees also remain $33 to $37 per overdraft.

The survey by the Consumer Federation of America also found that banks still allow multiple overdraft fees to be charged in a single day. In two cases, banks hiked the total number of overdraft fines that could be charged daily.

Associated Press

Poor economic news drives oil prices lower

Oil fell to its lowest level in five weeks on Wednesday as more signs of a slowing U.S. economy raised concerns about demand for everything from gasoline to natural gas used to cool homes.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $1.86 to settle at $91.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude fell $3.23 to settle at $113.23 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press

Bud redesigns cans in effort to boost sales

ST. LOUIS – Budweiser is getting a new look as its parent company tries to revive weak sales in the U.S.

Anheuser Busch unveiled a bolder, sleeker design for its cans Wednesday that puts a heavy emphasis on the “bowtie” design it has made a focus in recent marketing.

It’s the 12th redesign since Anheuser-Busch began offering Budweiser in cans in 1936.

The new cans will appear in the U.S. in coming weeks and in other countries later this year as the brewer tries to build the iconic U.S. brand’s sales in emerging markets.

Associated Press