Scripps Networks Interactive, the parent of Food Network and HGTV, signs deal with Cox Communications Inc. to gain 65% stake in the Travel Channel.

Among the shares expected to see active trade in Thursday's session are those of Starbucks, CBS, Nvidia and Nasdaq.

Saving the dinosaur press is apparently a bipartisan effort -- and blather from both sides of the aisle doesn’t give a bad idea a patina of credibility. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels a Republican is part of a new marketing campaign sponsored by the Hoosier State Press Association for newspapers in his state. In the ads Gov. Daniels says apparently without irony that newspapers are the “only medium equipped to play watchdog across all levels of government.” Future ads by the Hoosier State Press Association are scheduled to include senators Richard Lugar a Republican and Evan Bayh a Democrat. Politicians ...

President Obama a self-proclaimed “newspaper junkie” says he’d be “happy to look at” a bill pending in Congress that would give newspapers tax breaks if they restructure as nonprofit businesses.Senator Ben Cardin D-Maryland has introduced Senate Bill 673 called the Newspaper Revitalization Act that would provide tax breaks to newspapers that restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations or non-profits. Senator Barbara Milulski Cardin’s colleague from Maryland is a co-sponsor.The bill would gut the independence of the press killing its watchdog role. It also makes no business sense because reorganizing as a non-profit won’t solve the basic problems of the newspaper industry: ...

With the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index up 47% from the lows it reached in March many investors are feeling intense relief.But with one or more institutional traders making bets that suggest a bearish end to 2009 the questions become: How do you read this information and what do you do about it?I’m struck by a sense of déjà vu.In September 2007 there was a $900 million options wager that became known as the “Bin Laden Mystery Trade.” Widely believed to be a massive downside bet on the S&P 500 it was a combination of options totaling 120 000 ...

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).