Heartland Automotive Services Inc. of Omaha, Neb. -- which operates three Jiffy Lube locations in Vermont -- declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 7, allowing the company to fend off creditors as it reorganizes.

Heartland operates a Jiffy Lube franchise in Essex Junction, Rutland and South Burlington. Each location employs about 10 people, and no layoffs are expected, said Ralph Tschantz, Heartland's senior vice president of marketing.

All of the company's 438 stores are expected to remain open throughout the bankruptcy, he said Tuesday.

The bankruptcy filing is a result of a disagreement between Heartland and Houston-based Jiffy Lube International Inc. on a variety of issues, including how advertising funds should be spent, Heartland said in a written statement.

Guggenheim Capital Markets Holds First Annual Structured Products ...

NEW YORK, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Guggenheim Capital Markets, LLC, a New York-based registered broker dealer, yesterday held its first Annual Structured Products Summit in New York City. With its expertise in an array of structured products, Guggenheim Capital Markets designed a conference with a wide range of topics presented by industry leaders to structured-finance oriented investors. The summit included panels on:

Expert panelists from a number of boutique firms shared their insights, along with specialists from Guggenheim Capital Markets. In addition, Scott Minerd, Chief Strategist for Guggenheim Partners, spoke regarding his economic outlook. "Our attendees had a great opportunity to interact with an impressive mix of industry leaders," said Ron Iervolino, head of Guggenheim Capital Markets trading desk.

Scots do not want to end the Union, merely modify it

IT'S time. Time for a change. Time to move on. This is the last column from this writer which will appear in this position in this paper. A new and extremely challenging role on the business desk awaits.Sadly, it means no time for the glorious self-indulgence of expressing a weekly opinion on the affairs of the nation.The world of politics is a continuously fascinating one. There is always something new. Political parties take power and always, in the end, lose it. Politicians' fortunes ebb and flow. Plots and conspiracies abound. Policies evolve and change.Over time, the decisions made by our elected representatives really do "make a difference", a phrase politicians use frequently, to the lives of the poor, long-suffering voters whose interests they are supposed to represent. Politics matters.And having spent many years at both Westminster and Holyrood as a reporter – and worked, albeit for only a year, on the "dark side" as a special adviser to former First Minister Henry McLeish – politics had become like a drug.

Pitchin’ a Tent

Tent State University

Flamboyance, prosperity end suddenly

EVESHAM, N.J. - They married on Halloween 1998 - in costume.

On their five-year anniversary, Marcie and Walter Buczynski celebrated again, throwing a costume party for 100. He dressed as a pimp. She dressed as a showgirl.

Things were apparently going great at work for Buczynski then. The two-hour daily commute from his home in South Jersey to his office at Fieldstone Mortgage Co. in Columbia was a drain. But he'd been named an executive vice president that year and was being paid more than anyone else except the CEO.