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The Arizona Diamondbacks are hoping Edwin Jackson’s no-hitter Friday will boost merchandise and jersey sales.

Jackson threw the second no-hitter in D-backs history against the Tampa Bay Rays even though it took him 149 pitches, a highlight in an otherwise disappointing season thus far for the D-backs. This is Jackson’s first year with the Diamondbacks. He was with the Detroit Tigers last year and the Rays in 2008.

“We have ordered a number T-shirts through Majestic with his name and No lowest fee payday loans. 36 on the back,” said said team spokeswoman Tina Manzo. “MLB.com has also been promoting customized authentic jerseys with Jackson’s name and number on dbacks.com. It’s been too soon to realize the demand but we will have merchandise available when the team returns from the road for a 10-game home stand starting on Friday against the Dodgers.”

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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief against the estate of a Jacksonville fund manager who authorities say stole $34 million from investors.

The SEC alleges Kenneth Wayne McLeod defrauded active and retired government employees and law enforcement agents with a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors of at least $34 million since 1988 through his benefits consulting firm, Federal Employee Benefits Group, Inc. (FEBG), and his registered investment adviser, F&S Asset Management Group, Inc.

McLeod was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound June 22 in a Mandarin park, according to published reports.

Instead of purchasing bonds for an estimated 260 investors, McLeod is accused by the SEC of using the retirement savings to pay himself and to splurge on lavish entertainment, including annual trips to the Super Bowl for himself and 40 friends. The SEC alleges that McLeod offered investors guaranteed returns of 8 to 10 percent through a purported tax-free “FEBG Bond Fund” or “FEBG Special Fund.”

He told investors that their principal would be 100 percent invested and secured by government bonds, the commission alleges. McLeod told investors that the fund invested in government securities provided a 13 percent return and falsely claimed that the 3 percent to 5 percent would be used to expand FEBG and other businesses.

The SEC alleges he told investors that the principal would be locked up for various periods of up to 8 years due. He also issued some investors false FEBG Bond Fund account statements, which showed fake interest earnings and gave investors options to reinvest their quarterly earnings instead of receiving distributions, which many investor did.

The expectation of return spurred some investors to retire from law enforcement or public service. Some investors rolled over their retirement and savings accounts into the bond fund or invested their inheritances and their children’s tuition savings.

A hearing is set for July 6 in Miami to determine whether the emergency asset freeze and other relief should stay in effect.

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KBR Inc. has been awarded a contract by Tierra Del Fuego Power & Chemical Co. Ltd.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Houston engineering construction and services company will provide licensing and process design for a grassroots ammonia plant in Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina.

The plant will use natural gas to produce high-yield fertilizer. KBR (NYSE: KBR) plans to begin work on the project in July.

Tierra Del Fuego Power & Chemical is the largest Chinese investment in Argentina, made up of a joint venture between Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group Co. Ltd., Shaanxi Xinyida Investment Ltd. and Jinduicheng Molybdenum Group Co. Ltd.

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DETROIT — Toyota said on Thursday that it would resume construction of a Mississippi plant that had been suspended 18 months ago because of the recession.

And in another sign that auto sales have improved considerably, General Motors said it would skip the annual summer shutdown at all but two of its United States plants to keep up with demand.

Toyota said its $1.3 billion plant in Blue Spring, Miss., was scheduled to begin building Corolla compact cars, not sport utility vehicles or hybrid cars as previously planned, in the fall of 2011.

Toyota said it would hire 2,000 people, the same number of jobs it originally planned to create at the plant, which is 90 miles southeast of Memphis.

Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi was scheduled to meet company executives on Thursday at the plant, which was 90 percent finished in December 2008 when Toyota halted the project amid plunging sales nationwide.

"Toyota appreciates the patience of Governor Barbour and all Mississippians, but we first needed to fully utilize our existing facilities as the economy slowed," Yoshimi Inaba, the president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, said in a statement.

"Now it’s time to fulfill Toyota’s promise in Mississippi," the statement said. "Toyota remains committed to making vehicles where we sell them and to maintaining a substantial manufacturing presence in North America."

GM said that operating nine of its 11 United States assembly plants for two extra weeks would allow it to build 56,000 additional vehicles. Some temporary workers might be hired.

The only plants that GM does not plan to keep running are in Lordstown, Ohio, which will soon start building the new Chevrolet Cruze compact car, and in Shreveport, La., which builds midsize pickup trucks and is scheduled to close by 2012.

The Detroit automakers have traditionally shut their plants in early July to prepare for building the next year’s models.

"This move will help buyers waiting for high-demand products such as the Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia," Mark Reuss, the president of GM North America, said in a statement. "Our manufacturing teams are taking creative approaches to increase production and reduce the wait times for our dealers and customers."

Toyota said the Mississippi plant’s opening would mean "nearly all" Corollas sold in North America would be built in the United States and Canada. Some production of the Corolla, one of Toyota’s top-selling models, was moved to Japan in April, when Toyota closed a plant in Fremont, Calif., where it was assembled.

The California plant had been a joint venture of Toyota and General Motors, but GM withdrew after its bankruptcy filing last year, and Toyota said it could not operate the plant without a partner. Toyota now plans to build electric cars there in partnership with another automaker, Tesla.

Toyota initially planned to build sport utility vehicles at the Mississippi plant, then in mid-2008 said it would build Prius hybrid cars there after a surge in gas prices and demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Toyota on Thursday did not address whether it would eventually build the Prius, which is imported from Japan, in North America.

Toyota said the building was "essentially complete" and that most of the remaining work involves equipment installation. About 60 people already work at the plant’s administration office.

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The net worth of American households inched higher during the first three months of 2010, rising at about twice the pace as the previous quarter, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

Household net worth, the difference between assets and liabilities, rose to $54.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2010, up about 2% from $53.5 trillion in the fourth quarter. That’s the fastest rate of increase since the second quarter of 2009, and faster than the 1% climb in the previous quarter, the final three months of last year payday loans for bad credit.

Although the figure marked the fourth consecutive quarterly rise, it remained well below the highs seen in 2007. Net worth peaked at about $65.9 trillion in the second quarter of that year.

The rebound in household net worth came in part on the back of the rising value of investment portfolios. During the first quarter, stock market holdings rose 4% to $7.9 trillion.  

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Oregon’s budget crisis could force the equivalent of seven weeks worth of court closures or the jobs of 277 full-time employees.

The Oregon Judicial Department projected that cutting its budget by 9 percent would require it to slash $13.2 million from its nearly $300 million general fund.

The department revealed that the cuts would only take place if several legislative and executive actions occur. Revenue forecasters projected that Oregon faces a $577 million shortfall compared to what they’d anticipated when the last legislative session adjourned. The shortfall means that the state must dramatically cut spending that lawmakers had already approved.

The judicial closures, which would affect courts in all 36 Oregon counties, would result from the loss of operating costs for the facilities and salary and benefits for court employees. The system includes circuit, tax and appeals courts low fee payday advance.

Attorneys and businesses needing to handle court cases could face legal logjams as judges determine how to handle civil cases. Criminal cases are handled before civil cases because defendants have constitutional rights to faster trials.

Such closures could further affect domestic violence victims or stalking victims who might find it more difficult to obtain restraining orders in a timely fashion, said Phil Lemman, a judicial department spokesman.

“There are many things like that that we handle every day for Oregonians,” he said. “Where would people go to take action on that?”

If the courts aren’t closed, some 277 employees who work in the buildings could lose their jobs.

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WASHINGTON — A brewing Capitol Hill fight pits California winemakers against beer wholesalers and others who are hoping to outflank a landmark Supreme Court decision.

One hundred and seven lawmakers, nearly one-fourth of the House of Representatives, support legislation that would make it easier for states to hinder direct shipments of alcohol. The bill in effect takes the fizz out of a 2005 Supreme Court decision that said some bans on direct shipments violated the Constitution.

The bill’s supporters say they want to bolster state alcohol enforcement powers.

"With (the bill), Congress is taking an important step toward ending the erosion of the states’ ability to regulate alcohol," the president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Craig Purser, declared when the bill was introduced earlier this year.

The bill’s opponents say it would benefit booze distributors at the expense of wineries and consumers.

"It really threatens the progress that’s been made on direct shipping of wine," U.S. Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., said Friday. "It puts into jeopardy all of the work we’ve done."

Himself a former winemaker, Radanovich co-chairs the 250-member Congressional Wine Caucus. The caucus supports direct shipping and will play a big role in what happens next.

Realistically, the legislation to complicate direct shipments has little to no chance in the remaining months of this Congress.

Its chief author, Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., is a lame duck. Its opponents include key lieutenants of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who often champions her home state’s wine industry. Two months after Delahunt quietly introduced his bill, a Senate version is nowhere in sight.

Politically, though, the bill signals a resurgence in the long-running struggle that pits different elements of the alcohol business against one another.

"We have to be diligent anytime a bill like this takes shape," Radanovich said. "We have to be sure we can block it."

Direct shipments cut out the distributors and middlemen, allowing wineries to sell straight to customers who may have visited in person or browsed via the Internet. Modest-sized wineries, in particular, have considered direct shipping a retail boon.

"It’s definitely helped; there’s no question about it," Patrick Campbell, the owner of Laurel Glen Winery in California’s Sonoma County, said Friday. "The fact that you can ship direct to some markets creates an opening, and that scares the hell out of the distributors."

After a protracted legal campaign, the Supreme Court in the case called Granholm v. Heald struck down laws that banned out-of-state direct shipments while permitting those from in-state wineries. The court concluded that the state laws violated the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which prohibits states from erecting barriers against one another.

Driven in part by subsequent legal or legislative action, 38 states now permit some form of direct shipping. Missouri and Illinois both allow direct shipping of wine, but with limits to the number of cases per winery.

Enter the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act.

As introduced April 15, the legislation significantly raises the legal hurdles for a successful challenge to a state’s direct wine-shipment restriction. The bill declares that a state’s alcohol control law "shall be upheld" unless the challengers can prove, essentially, that the law serves no purpose.

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David Mishler has stepped down as chief executive of The Business Bank of St. Louis but will remain as vice chairman and a member of the board.

Tom O’Meara, the bank’s chairman and a partner at the Moneta Group, will serve as interim chief executive while the board searches for a permanent replacement.

“Dave is a marketing and sales oriented guy — great at developing relationships,” and he will continue to do that for the bank, O’Meara said. “With growth, different skills sets are sometimes needed.”

Mishler had served as chief executive and vice chairman of the bank, which operates from a single location in Clayton, since it opened in 2002. His previous experience included Enterprise Bank & Trust and Mark Twain Bank.

From the outside, the change may look sudden, O’Meara said, but the board and Mishler have been engaged in “an ongoing discussion” about a change in management.

The Business Bank is the 14th-largest commercial bank in the St. Louis area, with total assets of $572 million, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The bank reported a profit of $1.15 million in the most recent quarter, ended March 31, although its parent company, Business Bancshares Inc., reported a 5 percent slip in profit, to $516,000, from $541,000 a year earlier. The parent company has expenses, such as those associated with its acceptance of $15 million in TARP money, that the bank does not have.

Mishler was one of the bank’s founders, and O’Meara credited him with its growth and, more recently, with working out its problem loans.

The Business Bank’s bad loans totaled $8.9 million for the first quarter, compared with $14.9 million a year earlier, and its Tier 1 risk based capital ratio — a key measure of a bank’s financial strength and its ability to sustain future losses — improved to 12.78 percent from 9.71 percent a year ago.

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Monday is the last day for Harris County residential and commercial property owners to protest the property values determined by the Harris County Appraisal District.

Property owners get an extra day to file a protest this year since May 31 fell on Memorial Day.

Homeowners whose houses are valued at $1 million or less can use the iSettle program on the Harris County Appraisal District Web site to try to lower their valuation payday advances. The account number and iFile number mailed to the property owner is required for handling the process online.

The June 1 deadline does not apply to business personal property and some real property accounts, which will have more time to protest.

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