ENERGY

An online backlash is building against Whole Foods Market Inc. chief executive John Mackey, thanks to his op-ed column in The Wall Street Journal knocking President Barack Obama’s proposed health care bill.

Leaders of this famously green city last year passed the nation’s first grocery bag fee, and some other cities quickly followed.

An Austin-based child-support collection company has been sold to a smaller Dallas-based company that operates the same type of business.

American manufacturing activity inched up in July, the government said Friday, as the Cash for Clunkers car rebate program helped spark a rebound in the hard-hit industrial sector.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor said Friday that it plans to close its older chip factory in Austin and invest $500 million to convert it into an expansion of its more advanced, 2-year-old plant.

Central Texas foreclosure postings continue to rise, with 1,071 properties posted for the Sept. 1

BB&T Corp. of North Carolina took over the branches and deposits of Colonial BancGroup Inc. on Friday, averting a major financial collapse with a government-assisted deal that could cost the federal deposit insurance fund billions of dollars.

GAMBLING

Ameriprise Financial Inc. awarded a $10,000 grant to the Austin Classical Guitar Society. The grant will support the society’s educational outreach program, which served more than 500 students in eight Austin schools during the 2008-2009 academic year.