Southwest Airlines raises fares
Southwest Airlines Co. has raised fares by $3 or $10 for one-way trips — one of its largest increases ever — and boosted the limit on its refundable fare to $319.
The weekend fare hike was the fourth broad fare increase by the nation’s leading low-cost carrier this year and the ninth in the past two years.
The company said it raised one-way fares by $10 on flights longer than 1,000 miles and $3 on flights of 751 miles to 1,000 miles.
Berg said the increase, which took affect Friday night before the July 4 holiday weekend, was prompted by high fuel prices.
•A federal agency’s lawsuit accuses Albertson’s Inc. of ignoring a decade-long pattern of harassment at a suburban Denver distribution center that ranged from racist graffiti on bathroom fixtures to threats of violence against Hispanic and black employees.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission contended in the federal lawsuit that the grocery chain’s managers failed to take adequate action to end what the agency described as a hostile workplace.
An Albertson’s spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Wednesday.
In the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, EEOC attorneys said they traced harassment at the Aurora center to at least 1995.
Swastikas and ethnic racial slurs remained on bathroom fixtures, walls and elsewhere for months and years in some cases, the plaintiff’s attorneys charged.
•Amazon.com Inc. said Wednesday it had begun offering its own toys and baby items following a judge’s ruling that ended its retail partnership with Toys R Us Inc.
The online retailer’s new online “store” also will include expanded inventory from partners such as Target Corp., spokeswoman Patty Smith said.
•Intel Corp., the world’s biggest chip maker, said Wednesday its venture capital arm would invest $600 million in a wireless Internet services company as part of a $900 million deal that also includes Motorola.
Intel, which is trying to drive the adoption of a wireless technology known as WiMAX, said it would finance Clearwire Corp., which offers wireless Internet services in 200 cities in states nationwide.
The investment represents the biggest for Intel Capital, which funds fledgling businesses that have the potential to accelerate demand for the personal-computer chips it sells.