In brief: Advantage IQ receives Energy Star award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring Avista subsidiary Advantage IQ for its role in reducing carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases.

Advantage IQ is among 110 manufacturers, retailers, public schools, real estate companies, homebuilders and other organizations being recognized as 2010 Energy Star award winners. Other winners include Sears Holding Corp., PepsiCo, JC Penney and Ford Motor Co.

Advantage IQ manages consumption of electricity, water and other utilities, lease expenses and bill payment for 532 clients representing 421,000 billed sites. Advantage IQ employs 900 workers.

The goal of EPA’s Energy Star program is to reduce energy consumption and fight climate change.

Becky Kramer

Icahn ups ante in bid to take over Lions Gate

NEW YORK – Activist shareholder Carl Icahn raised the stakes in his yearlong dispute with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. on Friday, launching an all-out bid to take over the movie studio following disagreements over its spending.

The hostile bid comes a week after Lions Gate rejected Icahn’s offer to buy a larger minority stake and rewrote its bylaws to make such a takeover attempt more difficult in the future.

The new offer for all outstanding shares also raised the specter of Canadian government involvement because Icahn, an American, could own the Vancouver-based company and cause friction with the country’s cultural policies.

Associated Press

Court: Release records on Fed loan recipients

NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve must reveal documents identifying financial companies that received Fed loans to survive the financial crisis, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said in two separate opinions that such information isn’t automatically exempt from requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

News Corp.’s Fox News Network LLC and Bloomberg L.P. sued separately for details about loans that commercial banks and Wall Street firms received and the collateral they put up. Other news agencies including the Associated Press filed briefs with the appellate court in their support.

The Fed argued that if it identified banks that drew emergency loans, it could cause a run on those institutions, undermine the loan programs and potentially hurt the economy, and lower-court judges were split on the issue.

Associated Press