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New BP CEO Bob Dudley is an alumnus of the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He serves on the Glendale graduate business school’s board of fellows and on BP's board of directors.

Dudley is taking over for embattled CEO Tony Hayward, who is stepping down. Hayward and BP have been faulted for their response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and for their sometimes aristocratic statements and attitudes toward the spill payday loan.

Dudley received a Master of International Management degree from Thunderbird in 1979 and is a veteran oil industry executive.

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The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance climbed last week, the government said Thursday.

There were 464,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 17, up 37,000 from a revised 427,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.

The number of claims was much higher than expected. A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to rise to 445,000.

"It’s very disappointing to have this leading indicator of economic conditions jump higher," said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. "This is the latest reminder of a weak labor market, and the jump preserves worries regarding the adequacy of economic growth."

The 4-week moving average of initial claims, which is calculated to smooth out volatility, was 456,000, up 1,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 454,750.

Continuing claims: The government said 4,487,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended July 10, the most recent data available. That’s down 223,000 from the preceding week’s upwardly revised 4,710,000 claims.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected ongoing claims to edge lower to 4,600,000 from the unrevised 4,681,000 in the previous week.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims fell by 21,500 to 4,567,000 from the preceding week’s revised 4,588,500 no fax payday loans.

Outlook: Lonski said the latest rise in jobless claims is consistent with worries about the labor market, consumer spending and the general health of the U.S. economy.

"The jump in jobless claims signals more coming in the way of a slack labor market that will curb the growth of wages and employment income, and thereby consumer spending," he said. "And this just reinforces a mediocre or lackluster outlook for job growth going forward."

Earlier this month, the government said the U.S. economy lost jobs in June for the first time this year. And Lonski said that given the lack of improvement in the labor market and consumer sentiment, we could be in store for another gloomy jobs report next month.

"This is a warning that we are unlikely to receive an upside surprise in the form of a better-than-expected reading on July payrolls," said Lonski. "Despite doing better in terms of profitability and sales, companies have not stopped laying off staff and are not yet in an expansionary mode." 

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A judge on Friday ruled against California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s request to force the state controller to cut 200,000 state employees’ pay to minimum wage temporarily.

The ruling was a boost for State Controller John Chiang, who for weeks has refused to carry out the cuts.

But the fight isn’t over yet. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette scheduled another court session for July 26, a spokeswoman for Chiang’s office said.

Schwarzenegger moved in July to cut 200,000 state workers’ wages to $7.25 an hour starting Aug. 1. But Chiang said he would not make the cuts and would wait until he completed an appeal of another court’s ruling on a similar pay cut order from 2008.

Schwarzenegger’s office sued Chiang last week in an effort to force him to make the cuts, but Chiang promptly filed a cross-complaint alleging that the order violates federal and state law.

The judge said he ruled for Chiang "because the issue of cutting workers’ pay needed more consideration and the controller shouldn’t be forced to make the cuts immediately," according to Chiang’s spokeswoman.

In his refusals, Chiang has also said the payroll computers aren’t equipped to make the cuts, but the court declined to rule on that subject. Chiang’s spokeswoman said Marlette wants that issue to be resolved before the end of August.

"We are confident we will continue to win on the merits of this case, as we already have done twice," Schwarzenegger’s spokeswoman said in a statement. "We hope the legislature passes a budget by then so we don’t have to pay our employees minimum wage."

Marlette’s office did not have comment late Friday.

California budget stalemate: The move to cut paychecks stems from a larger fight over how to close a $19.1 billion budget shortfall. California’s fiscal year began July 1, and Schwarzenegger and the legislature have yet to agree on a budget.

State workers have gotten caught in the crossfire. Schwarzenegger’s proposed salary reductions would cut across all job types and pay scales, though affected workers would receive back pay when the budget is passed.

Republicans want severe cuts to state social services such as welfare and Medicare, instead of hiking taxes. But Democrats oppose the program cuts and instead want tax increases on industries such as oil production. 

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The drug-data provider Epocrates Inc. has filed with the SEC to sell up to an estimated $75 million in an initial public offering.

The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market with the symbol EPOC.

Epocrates, a leading provider of mobile drug reference tools and interactive services, said it will use the proceeds to pay dividends due to the holders of its Class B preferred stock and for general corporate purposes, including working capital, research and development, sales and marketing, and capital expenditures.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Piper Jaffray & Co. will serve as joint book-running managers no fax pay day loan. William Blair & Co. LLC. and JMP Securities LLC will act as co-managers.

The company has yet to determine the number of shares to be sold and their price range.

Epocrates has more than 1 million users, including more than 40 percent of U.S. physicians, the company said. Its products are used on popular hand-held devices including the iPhone, iTouch and Blackberry, and Palm, Android and Windows devices.

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Nova Engineering, a unit of L-3 Communications, landed a contract worth up to $53.8 million to provide and maintain a remote sensor system for the Department of Defense.

According to a DOD news release, Cincinnati-based Nova will provide the department with equipment, upgrades and repairs, and program management for its Tactical Remote Sensor System payday loans. The technology allows for all-weather remote monitoring of specific areas.

The work will be performed at Nova’s Cincinnati operations and is expected to be completed by July 2015.

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Lending through Small Business Administration programs has plummeted since the end of May, when the SBA ran out of money for breaks that made those loans less risky for lenders and more affordable for borrowers.

The drop in SBA lending has occurred even as Congress explores new ways to expand small businesses’ access to credit.

The economic-stimulus bill increased the government guarantee on the SBA’s flagship 7(a) loans to 90 percent from the typical 75 percent. The legislation also reduced or waived fees on those loans as well as 504 loans, which are used primarily for real estate. As a result of those breaks, SBA lending rebounded after cratering during the credit crisis of late 2008.

Through June 25, the SBA had approved $10.5 billion in 7(a) loans this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. That’s up 80 percent from the same period a year ago.

However, lending slowed dramatically in June due to the loss of the higher guarantee and fee waivers. In May, SBA lenders made about $272 million in 7(a) loans per week. That’s not counting the $732 million in 7(a) loans made during the final week of May, as lenders rushed to get their loans approved before the loan breaks expired. In the first four weeks of June, average weekly loan volume dropped to $86 million.

President Barack Obama has called for reviving and extending the higher loan guarantee and fee waivers through the end of the year, and the proposal has bipartisan support. But Congress left town for its weeklong Fourth of July break without acting on it. That lack of urgency frustrates SBA lenders.

Tony Wilkinson, president and chief executive of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, criticizes Congress for letting “the one stimulus program that was probably working the best” expire.

“Shame on them,” says Eddie Tuvin, vice president of SBA and commercial lending at Capital Bank in Rockville, Md. “Why isn’t it a priority?”

Restoring the 90 percent guarantee “would do as much to really juice the recovery as anything,” says Charles Green, a former SBA lender in Atlanta who now advises businesses on financial issues.

Tuvin says 7(a) loans “breezed through” his bank’s approval process when the 90 percent guarantee was in place. “It was a major factor in the decision of our loan committee to approve several loans that wouldn’t have been made without it low rates payday advance.”

Now it’s much a harder to get a 7(a) loan approved, he says.

Plus, many borrowers and lenders simply are holding off on SBA loans.

“We have borrowers waiting right now who are willing to create and retain jobs,” Wilkinson says.

The Senate is expected to vote soon on legislation that would restore those SBA loan breaks, as well as establish a $30 billion fund that community banks could tap for small-business lending. Chances for the Small Business Jobs Act are good; it cleared a procedural hurdle by a 66-33 vote before the Fourth of July recess.

But that doesn’t mean the SBA loan breaks will be restored right away. The Senate bill differs in many respects from the House’s version of the Small Business Jobs Act. That means the Senate and House would have to hash out their differences before sending the legislation to the president for his signature. That could take weeks, or even months.

Even though the Senate bill increases the size limits on SBA loans — something lenders have long pushed for — Wilkinson would rather see Congress first pass a simple extension of the higher guarantee and fee waivers, and then work out a more ambitious bill.

Financial regulatory reform also awaits a final vote in the Senate when Congress returns. The legislation aims to end “too big to fail” bank bailouts by imposing new capital and leverage requirements, and creating an orderly system to liquidate large financial firms that fail. It also regulates over-the-counter derivatives and creates a new consumer watchdog for financial products.

Critics fear the bill could hurt the availability of credit to small businesses. Tuvin expects banks may cut back their lending as a result of the additional costs and regulations they would face as a result of the legislation. Green fears the bill could lead to more bank consolidation, because it would make it harder for smaller banks to be profitable.

However, Green thinks small businesses could benefit from the bill’s new consumer protections, since many business owners rely on credit cards and revolving lines of credit.

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Bermuda Run Country Club is out from under control of a court-appointed receiver after businessman Don Angell reached an agreement with the club’s lender.

Members of the club received a letter dated July 1 notifying them of the agreement with Rhode Island-based Textron Financial, which filed suit earlier this year claiming that Angell put the club up as collateral for a more than $8 million loan that the club’s operating company, WFBRCC LLC, took out in 2004.

The letter did not outline details of the agreement.

“Unfortunately, the speed and depth of the worst recession in eighty years caught us completely off guard,” Angell’s letter said. “As a result, we had to enter into some difficult dealings with Textron Financial, our lender, including a possible foreclosure of the club low fee payday loans.”

Georgia-based Affiniti Golf Partners came in to manage the club under the court-appointed receiver and will continue to run the club. Affiniti, along with club staff, “have worked hard to right the ship and put it back on a healthy course once again,” Angell wrote.

Several of Angell’s other companies have faced financial difficulties including tax liens over the past few months. But Angell wrote that “Bermuda Run CC is one of our proudest accomplishments. We love the club, all the people involved, and cherish the memories we have created together over all these years. Its recent troubles were very painful for us.”

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Los Alamos National Laboratory and its employees donated a combined $113,000 to the United Way of Santa Fe’s 2009-2010 giving campaign, making LANL the top donor for the ninth consecutive year.

LANL and its management company, Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS), will receive the 2010 Top Workplace Contributor Award, along with the lab’s Community Programs Office. In addition, Debbi Wersonick – who coordinates community-giving programs for LANL – will receive a Community Ambassador plaque cashadvance.

LANL employees raised more than $2 million in its most recent giving campaign for the United Way of Santa Fe County and United Way of Northern New Mexico. The total included a dollar-for-dollar match from LANS.

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California’s high-speed rail officials said Monday they will compete for a share of an additional $2.3 billion in federal funds for such train projects nationwide.

Federal Railroad Administration officials announced they will start accepting applicants to disseminate $2.1 billion in grants for high-speed intercity passenger rail projects. The agency will also make available $245 million for individual construction projects within a high-speed rail corridor.

This will be in addition to the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds that were awarded to high-speed rail projects last fall. California was able to secure $2.2 billion of that amount to help kick-start its proposed 800-mile, $45 billion statewide high-speed rail network connecting Southern California with the Bay Area and Sacramento payday loans.

“The High-Speed Rail Authority and California will compete aggressively for our share of these funds to supplement the federal stimulus funds we have already been awarded and the state funds committed to the project by the people of California," said Curt Pringle, chairman of the rail authority’s board of directors, in a statement. "We will continue to move forward with building the nation’s first high-speed rail system because we know it will create jobs, economic opportunity for Californians and improved mobility for our state.”

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