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The city of Glendale has put $25 million into an escrow account after the National Hockey League threatened to move the Phoenix Coyotes to another market.

The Glendale City Council approved a plan earlier this month to pay the NHL as much as $25 million in the upcoming hockey season to cover the team’s costs. The NHL owns the Coyotes, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The league operated the team this season but won’t do the same for the 2010-11 campaign.

The Glendale plan originally had the city government putting aside the $25 million in September, But the NHL asked that the money be in place before the end of June.

The money is in an escrow account, said Glendale city spokeswoman Julie Frisoni, while declining further comment.

NHL has given Glendale until the end of the year to find an owner who will keep the team in Arizona. Glendale officials are hopeful they can get a deal done, though negotiations with Ice Edge Holdings and Jerry Reinsdorf are not progressing. The NHL likely will move the team to Winnipeg, Manitoba, if a deal here doesn’t get done

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Gasoline prices in Florida are expected to drop again this week as crude oil prices continue their downward trend for the third straight week amid concerns that Europe’s financial crisis will worsen, AAA said.

Crude oil closed Friday at $70.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In the past few weeks, the European crisis has pushed the value of the euro down 12 percent against the dollar and is one of the major factors that has caused the price of crude to decrease. At the same time, U.S. stockpiles of crude grew for the 15th week, AAA said.

“The possibility that Europe’s financial problems will slow global demand at a time when U.S. demand is already slow to rise has investors worried,” said Jessica Brady, manager of AAA public relations no credit check payday loans. “The lack of demand can be seen in the constant increase in U.S. stockpiles of crude that are now well above 362 million barrels.

“Lower retail gasoline prices are always welcomed by consumers, and they can expect to see just that as retail prices drop again this week.”

The national average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $2.80, while Florida’s average is $2.79, bothof which reflect a seven-cent decrease from last week.

In Orlando, a gallon of self-serve regular averages $2.70, down 9 cents from a week ago.

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Deloitte LLP said Thursday it will donate $100,000 per year for the next 10 years to the Enterprise Center Community Development Corp. under Philadelphia’s business privilege tax program, which allows businesses to receive tax offsets for contributions to community development corporations.

The Enterprise Center CDC will use the money to support community development initiatives in the Walnut Hill neighborhood of West Philadelphia.

It will fund service-learning projects and parent councils at 15 West Philadelphia schools over the next three years; help pay for resources to turn an 11,580 square-foot parcel at 4610 W. Market St. into a resident-run urban farm; and develop a food business incubator.

Deloitte has been involved with the Enterprise Center since 2004.

The Enterprise Center is a business incubator in the West Philadelphia building where American Bandstand originated.

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Peter A. Dea, founder and CEO of Cirque Resources LP, has been named "Wildcatter of the Year" by the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.

IPAMS presented its highest award to Dea Saturday night at the industry group's annual Wildcatter Gala, held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

"Peter is one the great explorers and ambassadors of our industry," Marc Smith, IPAMS' executive director, said in a statement.

"His humility and civic engagement have opened many doors," Smith added. "Peter stirs the imagination of thought leaders across the political spectrum with compelling reasons to see natural gas as national treasure, capable of helping our nation meet its most pressing economic, environmental and energy security priorities. Peter and his wife Cathy demonstrate an incredible commitment to science, conservation and education."

The group says the award recognizes "the unique contributions and accomplishments of one industry individual, particularly regarding: (1) successful longtime natural gas and oil exploration and production in the Intermountain West, (2) community service, and (3) support of oil and natural gas industry activities and organizations."

It's IPAMS' 28th annual presentation of the Wildcatter of the Year award. Previous winners have included Edward J. Ackman, George G. Anderman, William W. Ballard, William J. Barrett, Robert L. Bayless, Wayne T. (Dusty) Biddle, Cortlandt S. Dietler, Raymond Duncan, George H. Fancher, Samuel Gary William C. Goodin, Jim Lightner, Kenneth D. Luff, Frederick R. Mayer, Mick McMurry, F. H. (Mick) Merelli, Rex Monahan, Robert L. Nance, Thomas A. Petrie, Conley P. Smith, John C. Snyder, H. A. (Dave) True, Harry Trueblood, Jr., Thomas G. Vessels, James B. Wallace, Donald L. Wolf, and Harvey E. Yates.

IPAMS released this biography of Dea:

Peter A. Dea is a Founder, President and CEO of Cirque Resources LP, a privately-funded oil and gas exploration and production company focused on unconventional resource plays, predominantly in the Rocky Mountain region. Cirque has leased over 600,000 acres in emerging exploration plays since its inception in 2007.

Dea was formerly President, CEO and a Director of Western Gas Resources, Inc. (NYSE: WGR) from 2001 through its merger with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in 2006. Dea served as Chairman and CEO of Barrett Resources Corporation (NYSE: BBR) from 1999 until its sale in 2001. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and he serves on the boards of Western State College, Alliance for Choice in Education, IPAMS (Vice President 2002 – 2007), American Geologic Institute Foundation, CU-Denver GEM program, formerly of COGA (President 2001), and is a member of the Colorado Forum, a public policy advisory group.

Dea graduated with a B.A. degree in Geology from Western State College of Colorado in 1976 and earned a M.S. degree in Geology at University of Montana in 1981. He attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 1999. After ten years at Exxon Company USA, Dea joined Barrett Resources in 1993. At Barrett, Dea played a direct role in the discovery of Cave Gulch Field (shallow and deep reservoirs) and in the merger with Plains Petroleum Corporation. He also led the company into the Powder River and Raton Basin CBM plays. As CEO of Barrett, he negotiated the sales transaction to Williams in 2001, after Shell initiated a hostile takeover, realizing a 67% premium to the pre-Shell trading price. During his tenure at Barrett the Company’s enterprise value grew from $200 million to $2.8 billion, and the Wall Street Journal recognized Barrett as delivering the best 10-year average compounded annual return to shareholders among 33 major and independent oil and gas companies. While CEO at Western Gas Resources, the company’s value more than quintupled from $1 billion to $5.3 billion with its sale to Anadarko realizing a 49% premium to the pre-announcement share price. Under Dea’s leadership, Forbes listed Western Gas Resources in their Best Managed Companies in America edition, for 5-year annualized returns of 30%. BusinessWeek ranked WGR as the 23rd best performing company in Standard & Poor’s Mid-Cap 400 Index and WGR also became a Fortune 500 company.

In Denver, Dea co-founded the Explorer’s Club, First Thursday Dinner Club, Colorado Energy Coalition at MDEDC and Partnership of the West. In addition, Dea founded geology scholarship programs at Western State College and University of Montana. He and his wife Cathy established the Dea Family Foundation serving education, science and conservation efforts. They live in Golden, Colorado, and have three sons, Drake, Austin and Cort. They enjoy skiing, horseback riding, mountain and road biking and hiking. As a Roundup Rider of the Rockies, Dea enjoys a 100-mile horseback ride in Colorado’s high country each year. Dea has been an active mountaineer, climbing many high altitude peaks up to 22,205’ and he has participated in multi-week climbing, skiing and whitewater kayaking expeditions in North and South America, Nepal and Africa. He has also climbed 50 of Colorado’s highest peaks.

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Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati has named Andrew McCreanor, former president of National Bank & Trust Co., as executive director/CEO.

McCreanor retired from the Wilmington-based bank in 2007 and has since held a number of nonprofit positions. He was most recently executive director of Clermont 20/20, a quality-of-life initiative in Clermont County, and is currently chairman of the board of advisers for the Clermont County Chamber of Commerce. He is also chairman of the Economic Development Corp. of Clermont County and has provided consulting services to several large local nonprofit organizations.

A resident of Loveland, McCreanor earned a bachelor’s degree in business management/marketing from Wilmington College.

Executive Service Corps is a national network that provides affordable consulting services to nonprofit schools and government organizations.

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Just before 3 p.m. ET Thursday, shares of Procter & Gamble appeared to have fallen 37%, helping trigger a massive 900-point sell-off in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The huge drop in P&G’s stock - reportedly from more than $60 to less than $40 - is widely believed to have been a trading glitch.

Several other stocks had huge drops in their price at that time as well, including Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Accenture (ACN), 3M (MMM, Fortune 500) and Oxford Industries (OXM).

At around 2:45 p.m. ET, P&G’s (PG, Fortune 500) stock had fallen 10% to $56 on the New York Stock Exchange, triggering a "circuit breaker." At that point, the NYSE slowed the trading of the stock for less than a minute. During that short time, other stock exchanges were allowed to trade P&G’s stock price on their own, instead of getting the price from NYSE.

According to Procter & Gamble and the NYSE, the Nasdaq stock exchange may have misprinted a quote of $39.37 a share. It is also possible that the electronic trades actually occurred, but they were made in error.

Late on Thursday Nasdaq said it had no technology or system issues associated with the trading that occurred between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET.

But the exchange said that because it coordinates with other US Exchanges, "all trades executed between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET greater than or less than 60%" of the stock price as of 2:40 p.m. ET or immediately prior to that time will be cancelled.

Procter & Gamble is a Dow component, and the reported 37% drop in P&G’s stock contributed 172 points to thedrop in the Dow.

"The market was down 400 points before we went into a slowdown," Lawrence Leibowitz, NYSE’s chief executive, told CNN. "A lot of the movement when the market went down 1,000 points was due to stocks trading at strange prices low fee pay day loans. Then it went all the way back up to where we started."

Leibowitz said that stocks are very thinly traded in such situations, which can lead to wild volatility.

That’s exactly what happened with Procter & Gamble and a handful of other stocks.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) traded down 22% to $199.25 before recovering.

Accenture (ACN) fell from $40.13 at 2:45 p.m. all the way to just 1 cent before quickly rising back to $39.57.

Oxford Industries (OXM) also tanked to $1.34 before soaring back to $19.51 a minute later.

3M (MMM, Fortune 500), a Dow component, momentarily fell $18.61. That 21.5% drop in 3M’s stock alone represented a 143-point decline in the Dow.

"I don’t know if it was a faulty trade," said Leibowitz. "We may find out that those trades were erroneous. A lot of times, those trades will get cancelled later on."

Procter & Gamble confirmed that the drop in its stock price was on the electronically traded Nasdaq exchange.

"Today’s low trade was $56," said Jennifer Chelune, spokeswoman for P&G in an e-mailed statement. "Any trade reported below that would have been on the Nasdaq and we’re looking into whether those were errors."

The SEC and CFTC said they "are working closely with the other financial regulators, as well as the exchanges, to review the unusual trading activity that took place briefly this afternoon. We are also working with the exchanges to take appropriate steps to protect investors pursuant to market rules."

The regulators said they will make their findings public along with recommendations for appropriate action.  

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As you might expect, Missouri’s 13th and final casino license is drawing a crowd.

Fifteen groups — real estate developers, gambling companies, local governments — told the Missouri Gaming Commission this week that they were interested in opening a casino when the President Casino closes next month. At least five of them would put it in the St. Louis region.

All are very preliminary. The letters basically tell state officials a company is interested. Next, the commission will hold a public meeting explaining the process, and set a deadline for formal applications. But they give a picture of who might build what where.

Among the interested:

— St. Louis businessman Jim Koman, a part owner of the Casino Queen who through a separate company called Casino Celebration holds a site just south of the Chain of Rocks bridge, where he would put a $125 million riverboat casino.

— Attorney Brad Lakin, who leads North County Development LLC, which has won rezoning approval to put a casino complex on 350 acres south of the Columbia River Bottoms.

— Creve Coeur-based Isle of Capri Casinos, which didn’t specify a site and appears to be eyeing at least two. It was the only large casino company to raise its hand.

— West Alton Partners LLC, a group that tried unsuccessfully to put a riverboat in that small north St. Louis County town in 1996.

— Blue Sky Development, which owns a casino in Indiana and is interested in an unspecified site in the city of St. Louis.

— Three separate groups that are eying Cape Girardeau, including one led by Joe Uram, former chief financial officer of Argosy Gaming.

— Coastal Capital Management LLC, a New York-based casino developer run by Kenneth Shea, who led gambling operations for Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital hedge fund.

— Ingenus Management, a Minnesota-based casino consultancy company, which is trying to win a license in Ottumwa, Iowa.

— The city of Sugar Creek, Mo., near Kansas City, which narrowly lost out on a new casino in 2008 when voters capped licenses at the current 13.

Other groups can still apply, and any proposal will need to partner with an experienced casino operator to actually win the license, said LeAnn McCarthy.

That will probably winnow down some of the proposals. So will the market study the commission plans to conduct.

"Anyone can throw out a letter of interest," McCarthy said. "But soon we’ll start to pare down."

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Pixelworks Inc. reported increased revenue, but lower earnings, for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with the same quarter of 2009.

Portland-based Pixelworks (NASDAQ: PXLW), a provider of video and pixel processing technology, for the quarter ending March 31 had revenue of $18.7 million — which was down from $19.4 million in Q4 2009, when the company loss more than $700,000 — and earnings of $4.6 million, or 32 cents per share, compared with Q1 2009 revenue of $10.8 million, with earnings of $5.9 million, or 44 cents per share.

The company expects revenue in the second quarter to be $17.5 million to $19.5 million and a loss of 4 cents to 24 cents.

Pixelworks’ stock ended trading Thursday at $5.62 per share, up 29 cents. The stock has a 52-week range of 62 cents to $5.98.

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