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The local franchise owners of Dunkin� Donuts is looking to the city for a float loan to open a store near the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

HealthSouth and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals led local stocks Friday closing a steady day for most local publicly traded companies. (HLS) (MPW)

Oil rig workers facing tough economic times as a result of the moratorium on deepwater drilling will get some help from BP plc.

Alabama drags behind the nation, along with seven other states, in legislation to prevent and fight cancer, according to a report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. chose Winston-Salem, N.C., to build its $426 million plant instead of Montgomery, which was in the running for the manufacturing plant. (CAT)

Vestavia Hills is asking its citizens to make their mark on the city�s retail corridor.

Colonial Properties Trust announced an “at-the-market” offering to sell up to $100 million of its common shares. (CLP)

HealthSouth announced plans Friday to begin construction of a new 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in northwest Houston in the fourth quarter. (HLS)

More than 100 jobs are coming to the town of Thomasville, just outside of Mobile.

Dr. Ray Watts has been named the new senior vice president for medicine of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and dean of the school of medicine.

A weaker-than-expected government report on the economy sent investors flocking back into Treasurys Friday, pushing the prices up on U.S. debt and driving yields down.

Northwest Airlines will plead guilty and pay a $38 million fine for conspiring to fix cargo rates, the Justice Department announced Friday.

General Motors’ legendary CEO Alfred P. Sloan invented the annual styling change when he ordered a new body for the 1923 Chevrolet to cover up the car’s nine-year-old technology. The new design made the old model feel out-of-date and was the first step in GM’s drive to pass Ford Motor and its unchanging Model T to become the largest automobile company in the world.

China has surpassed Japan to become the world’s second largest economy, lagging only behind the United States, a Chinese government official said in remarks published on Friday.

General Motors announced Friday that the automaker has raised its planned production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car to 45,000 in 2012.

It takes a lot of courage to be a bull on homebuilder stocks these days. They exist, for sure. And they aren’t on mind-bending drugs. In fact, they see the world much as the housing stock bears do. You won’t find any uplifting messages in their reports on the economy and housing.

It could quite possibly be called the worst job on Earth — and the position is open.

The economy is heading nowhere fast. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that it still seems like consumers may have actually learned a lesson or two about reckless fiscal behavior.

The Obama administration gave a positive spin to second-quarter economic numbers released Friday, with the administration’s chief economist saying they show a “steady recovery from the recession continues.”

There was a great conversation Thursday at Y Combinator’s AngelConf in Silicon Valley. Anthony Ha of Venturebeat had a couple posts on it that I just read, one on Paul Graham’s comments, and another on Ron Conway and Mike Arrington’s comments. I would have enjoyed being part of that discussion, so I’ll join in now.