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BEYOND TAMPA BAY

 
Published Sept. 18, 2009|Updated Sept. 18, 2009

Jon Leibowitz, head of the Federal Trade Commission, said Thursday the agency is considering banning up-front payments to companies, often $1,000 to $3,000, that advertise help for borrowers in trouble on their home loans. His comments came as his agency announced it filed civil charges against two companies, Nations Housing Modification Center of San Diego and Infinity Group Services of Orange County, Calif.

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An unidentified buyer or buyerssnapped up Bernard Madoff's Long Island, N.Y., beach house for $8.75 million after the U.S. Marshals Service put the seized property up for sale, the broker's spokeswoman said Thursday. The U.S. Marshals Service put the 3,000-square-foot house on the market Sept. 1 to help repay victims of Madoff's massive investment fraud. The listing reportedly attracted an onslaught of responses and numerous bids.

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Google is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks. As part of a deal announced Thursday, Google is opening up part of its index to the maker of a high-speed publishing machine that can produce a 300-page paperback-bound book in under five minutes. The new service is an acknowledgment by the Internet search leader that not everyone wants their books served up on a computer or an electronic reader.

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An advertisement for Coca-Cola called "Heist," which debuted during the Super Bowl, earned the soft drink maker its first-ever Emmy Award. The ad, which topped seven others, features insects swiping a bottle of Coca-Cola from a napping picnicker in the park. Coca-Cola collaborated with ad agency Wieden ' Kennedy and animators at Psyop to develop and produce the spot.

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"We will continue to take enforcement action when airlines violate our rules."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, as the agency said it would fine Fort Lauderdale-based Spirit Airlines as much as $375,000 for violating passenger rules, including suggesting in response to customer complaints that it was following government rules when it wasn't

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$1B: Amount Toyota will pour into a major U.S. marketing campaign in the fourth quarter

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THE BOTTOM LINE: Number seeking new jobless claims dropsto 545,000 as continuing claims rise to 6.2 million ... FedEx's first-quarter earnings fall 53 percent to $181 million ... American Airlines receives $2.9B in fresh financing as it restructures flight schedule