“Tan SUV, 2:37,” Gabe Rios, 17, says into his walkie-talkie, then makes a notation on the sheet attached to the clipboard in his other hand.
Gabe and partner Christian Learned, 17, are standing outside Bothell’s Northshore Junior High just as classes there let out for the day.
Along with other students from Bothell High, the two intend to keep an eye on the movements of that SUV — as well as every other vehicle that enters the school’s lot.
Specifically, they note when cars arrive and when those same cars leave.
But, no, they …

The Year of the Tiger is here and a recent luncheon held by the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce suggests it is off to a grand start. At the luncheon, members conversed not about the recession or the real estate market, but about relationships and commerce.
“This is the time to go back to basics,” said Vida Chan Lin, the chamber’s newly elected president and the first woman to hold the position.
Lin moved to Las Vegas in 1994 and launched V&J Insurance, which serves the Asian and minority communities. Her …

A friend of mine is stressed out. Her 25-year-old daughter, though still a full-time student, is too old to remain on her mother’s health insurance plan. She looked into the student insurance offered at her college, but it wasn’t a very good one. Now the two of them feel stuck and unsure of what to do next.
I’m one of the very lucky people that get health insurance through their employer. I just fill out a few pieces of paper during the fall open enrollment period, and voila, I have coverage …

President Obama is trying to rally support for his health care plan as the White House pushes to have the overhaul bill wrapped up within the next two weeks.
Meantime, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, is looking for more transparency from insurance companies.
Sebelius wants insurance companies to make public their costs of doing business when they want to raise premiums.
Sebelius has written a letter to the heads of several insurance companies asking for this information. This comes after a meeting at the White House with insurance executives …

Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. has cautioned the public against engaging in banking transactions outside bank premises, citing potential fraud in such activities.
PDIC president Jose Nograles gave the warning as he reported that as of end-January, his office had so far denied P204 million worth of claims supposedly by depositors in banks owned by the Legacy Group. The amount involved 4,175 claims.
In a statement, Nograles said 3,500 of the claims, or P125 million of the total denied claims, were not supported by bank records. Regulators said the absence of supporting bank …

Wildwood police Sgt. David Romeo will be sentenced April 16 on a second-degree charge of official misconduct.
Romeo was found guilty Monday morning by a jury; the charges stemmed from an incident in which he kicked two handcuffed suspects on the ground.
Romeo, 39,  remains free on bail until his sentence date. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Romeo’s father Dominic, a retired Wildwood police officer, comforted Romeo’s mother, Beverly, taking her outside the courtroom.
Assistant Cape May County Prosecutor Matthew D. Weintraub credited the jury with paying close attention throughout …

A FIRED-UP President Barack Obama launched a populist assault on Monday on price-gouging American insurance firms, escalating his last-ditch bid to pass a historic health reform bill.
President Obama laid a bold bet with his remaining political capital in an event in metropolitan Philadelphia, painting insurance firms as villains and seeking to cajole lawmakers wavering over tough votes crucial to his presidency.
‘I’m kind of fired up,’ President Obama said, reprising 2008 campaign language in an outspoken attack on insurance firms he had once sought to court during his faltering year-long drive …

THE SALE: American International Group Inc. sold its American Life Insurance Co. division, or Alico, to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. The deal is AIG’s second big asset sale in two weeks. On March 1, it said it would sell its AIA Group unit to Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion.
THE PURCHASE: By buying Alico, MetLife can expand in Japan,Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
BAILOUT UPDATE: The Alico and AIA Group deals will give AIG enough money to reduce its government debt to around $78.26 billion. AIG’s bailoutwas originally worth …

MetLife Inc.’s $15.5 billion deal Monday to buy AIG’s American Life Insurance Co., or Alico, brought the total value of dealmaking globally this year to $500.3 billion. That was up 21 percent from the year-ago period, according to data collected by deal-tracking firm Dealogic.
The transaction is the fifth-largest deal globally so far this year, and the second-largest U.S. transaction announced in 2010.
AIG’s sale of Asia-based life insurer, AIA Group, to Britain’s Prudential PLC last week for $35.5 billion tops the global 2010 list.
The MetLife-Alico deal is the sixth-largest insurance transaction …

Jerry Greene stood in front of his burning bakery with his hands tucked into his pockets. He looked it up and down and in his wet eyes Baked in Telluride, or what was left of it, shone.
By the minute, the fire dropped chunks of Telluride history and left it smoldering in the street.
The streets were glowing in light from fire engines and hundreds watched as smoke slithered from the building’s cracks. Later, the flames began licking at the front door. At times, they shot high into the air, glowing towers …