STEWART ACQUIRES CELEBRITY ESCROW.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

NORTHRIDGE - Celebrity Escrow Corp. of Northridge has been acquired by Stewart Title of California Inc., the companies announced Monday.

Existing management and staff will remain with the office, which will retain the Celebrity Escrow name and remain as a stand-alone escrow company.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Trump's gambling empire bankrupt

NEWARK, N.J. - Patrons of Donald J. Trump's gambling halls probably won't notice, but his casino empire is now in bankruptcy after months of negotiations with bondholders over a crushing $1.8 billion debt.

Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. - mainly consisting of three Atlantic City properties and a riverboat casino in Indiana - and related operations sought a Chapter 11 restructuring on Sunday after reaching agreement with most of its creditors on a new financial structure for the business.

Frontier scaling back L.A. routes

Buffeted by high fuel prices and aggressive competition, Frontier Airlines Inc. is scaling back its Los Angeles operations by eliminating nonstop service there to all cities but Denver.

Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said Monday that the industry's environment has changed since the Los Angeles nonstops were launched in April. He said rising fuel prices and lower sales played a role.

Judge to parties: Settle your suit

A federal judge on Monday urged California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and the French bank Credit Lyonnais to settle litigation over the purchase of failed Los Angeles insurer Executive Life.

In urging renewed settlement talks, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz said he will not toss out Garamendi's lawsuit against Credit Lyonnais over the purchase, for which the French bank and a number of associated companies and executives pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid a total of $771 million. Of that sum, $375 million paid by French agency CDR-Enterprises S.A. is being held in a ``settlement fund'' for Garamendi's lawsuit.

Garamendi is seeking damages for the improper purchase in 1993 of Executive Life Insurance Co. and $10 billion in its assets - a deal authorities say harmed policyholders who were later unable to fully collect on insurance judgments.

Firm suing Google over free nudes

A Web site that sells photos of naked women is suing Google Inc., alleging that the online search engine leader is destroying its business by distributing links and passwords that provide free glimpses of the nude models.

Beverly Hills-based Perfect 10 Inc. is seeking unspecified damages from Mountain View-based Google for alleged copyright infringement.

Google spokesman Steve Langdon declined to comment Monday, saying the company hadn't seen the suit yet.

Accords recalled for air bag glitch 

WASHINGTON - American Honda Motor Co. is recalling 257,616 Accord sedans because the driver's air bag may not deploy properly, federal regulators said Monday.

Accords from the 2004 and 2005 model years are involved in the recall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. At least one person has alleged an injury due to the defect, according to NHTSA's records.

The air bag can tear while it's deploying and may not offer adequate protection. Owners will be able to get free repairs beginning Dec. 6.

T-bill rates are up in Monday auction

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities rose in Monday's auction.

The Treasury Department sold $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 2.155 percent, up from 2.075 percent last week. An additional $17 billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 2.365 percent, up from 2.280 percent.

The three-month rate was the highest since Oct. 22, 2001, when the bills sold for 2.170 percent. The six-month rate was the highest since Sept. 17, 2001, when the rate was 2.570 percent.

In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, rose to 2.53 percent last week from 2.47 percent the previous week.