BRIEFCASE WAVE NEWSPAPERS FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Wave Community Newspapers Inc., which publishes seven weekly newspapers serving black and Hispanic readers in Southern California, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The group, which has 40 employees and a combined circulation of 150,000, filed its court papers seeking protection under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws last week.

Wave owes as much as $10 million to more than 17 creditors, according to court documents.

Pluria Marshall Jr., Wave's publisher and chief executive, said the move would not affect the newspapers' operation.

Experts predict slow growth in `05

WASHINGTON - Despite soaring oil prices and a slumping dollar, the United States enjoyed a banner year in terms of economic growth in 2004, but the new year is likely to see a significant slowdown, private economists say.

Analysts believe that rising interest rates, the lack of new tax cuts and the lingering effects of higher energy bills will combine to slow growth next year.

But what a year 2004 turned out to be in terms of overall growth rates!

Many analysts believe that the gross domestic product - the total output of goods and services - grew by 4.5 percent for all of 2004. That would match the boom years of 1999 and 1997 and would be the fastest pace in two decades.

Nike leader gets 100,000 shares

WASHINGTON - Nike Inc. gave its new president and chief executive, William D. Perez, 100,000 shares of restricted stock worth about $9.1 million, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Perez was appointed, effective Tuesday, to succeed the company's legendary founder, Philip H. Knight.

Perez was also awarded options to acquire 200,000 more Class B common shares at an exercise price of $90.85 each.

The company last month tapped Perez of S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., a consumer products company, to succeed Knight as chief executive. The new CEO also joined Nike's board Tuesday.

30-year mortgage rates at low in '04

WASHINGTON - Mortgage rates around the country moved up this week, but rates on 30-year mortgages for all of 2004 registered their second-lowest year on record.

Freddie Mac's weekly survey, released Wednesday, showed that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.81 percent this week, compared with 5.75 percent last week.

For all of 2004, rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages averaged 5.84 percent, second only to last year's 5.83 percent, the lowest annual rate in Freddie Mac's record keeping, a Freddie Mac spokeswoman said. The rate came in under 6 percent for the last 22 weeks of this year.

House sales hit high in November

WASHINGTON - Sales of previously owned homes in November posted their best month on record as low mortgage rates enticed buyers to live the American dream.

The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, totaled an all-time monthly high of 6.94 million units, representing a 2.7 percent increase from October's pace.

While some other recent reports raised questions as to whether the high-flying housing market might be losing a bit of altitude, Wednesday's report suggested that the sector is still humming along.

Time Warner eyes cell-phone service

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sprint Corp. and Time Warner Cable are discussing a deal that would allow the cable provider to offer cell-phone service, the companies said Wednesday.

Such a deal would make the unit of Time Warner Inc. the only major cable company to offer the so-called ``quadruple play'' - television, high-speed Internet access and both wired and wireless phone service.

It would also be the latest in a series of partnerships for Sprint in which other companies introduce their own brand of cell service using Sprint's network. These include deals with AT&T Corp., the ESPN unit of The Walt Disney Co., Virgin Mobile USA LLC and Qwest Communications International Inc.