An investor who bought 759 bullish AirTran Holdings options last week captured a 14-fold gain Monday after Southwest Airlines agreed to buy the company.

Trading of November $5 calls on Sept. 21 was triple the four-week daily average for all AirTran contracts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The calls, which changed hands for 15 cents, surged to open at $2.15 Monday. AirTran rose 61 percent to $7.34 on Monday. This was the first close above $5 for the Orlando, Fla.-based carrier since June.

“It does appear suspicious,” said Henry Schwartz, president of Trade Alert, a New York-based provider of options-market analytics. “Somebody may have had some information that something was in the works.”

A spokeswoman for Southwest didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for AirTran didn’t return a call for comment.

By The Associated Press,

Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 12:13 p.m.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. ?
A resident of the neighborhood evacuated by a deadly gas line explosion in San Bruno is suing Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Steve Dare filed the lawsuit on Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court. He says the company should turn over a $100 million recovery fund for blast victims to a third party and pay other monetary damages.

The lawsuit claims PG&E could withhold funding or not follow through on its promise if the money is not placed in a court-supervised account.

PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno told the San Mateo Daily Journal he didn’t know if the company had been served yet, so he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit.

Dare rents a home that did not sustain damage in the fire, but was evacuated for three days.

The blast on Sept. 9 destroyed nearly 40 homes and claimed at least four lives.

—

Information from: SAN MATEO DAILY JOURNAL,

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/

Younger road users are reportedly the most likely to be uninsured or driving
an unsafe vehicle; according to the research.

Almost 25% of under 21-year olds confessed to having driven without a license,
an MOT-checked vehicle or a valid driving license.

Over 23,000 people are injured or killed each year by those who are driving
illegally.

“Millions of people are deliberately flouting the law by not insuring
their cars at massive cost to honest road users and the wider insurance
industry posing an unnecessary and unjustified risk”, said Tim
Franklin, CEO of The Co-Operative Financial Services.

“Whilst work is continuing to be done to highlight the dangers of
uninsured drivers and keep them off the UK’s public highways by police, road
safety groups and the insurance industry, there is clearly more to be done.”

Kathie Shephard, spokesman for national road safety charity Brake, said it was “shocking”
that so many young people seemed to be driving illegally.

She said: “Young people are involved in a huge proportion of deaths and
serious injuries on our roads due to their inexperience and the tendency of
many young drivers to take risks like speeding, overtaking dangerously and
drink and drunk driving.”

WASHINGTON
? White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says he thinks Democrats will hang onto control of the House in November.

The spokesman’s comment, in his briefing with reporters on Tuesday, is significant given the context of what he said during a news program on Sunday. Gibbs had told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there is “no doubt” that there are enough House seats in play to give Republicans a chance to seize control.

That comment caused grumbling among Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.

Gibbs on Tuesday said he still thinks there are enough open seats to put control of the House in play, but added: “I think we’ll retain the House.”

He said Democrats can make a case for how they would improve people’s lives.