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Breaking News:

The chief executive of FareCompare says he would be extremely surprised if other major airlines do not match fare hikes posted last night by United Airlines. United is hiking most domestic roundtrip fares by 10 to 60 dollars. The 60 dollars increases are on flights of 750 miles or more, which covers any flights from Chicago to the West Coast, or from Denver to the East Coast. The application of the fare hikes also seems to be affected by whether Southwest is flying in the same corridor. If it does, it stays United's hand. United has not yet copied that controversial first bag fee at American Airlines. But it says it's thinking about it.

And quickly some other breaking news -- the head of the Federal Communications Commission says he's not averse to regulating cell phone cancellation penalties.

Burger King has agreed to pay an extra penny-and-a-half a pound for Florida tomatoes if the money is passed on to workers. It's enough to double what they make.

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Mesa's problems retaining pilots come on top of the same problems with fuel bills and the irate customers that all the other airlines have. And it spent 52 million dollars settling that lawsuit by Hawaiian Airlines. It even faces a suit by the corporate shell of Aloha Airlines. A judgment against Mesa in that case could cost another 100 million. Against the backdrop of all that, Delta's contract cancellation threatens to take away a fifth of Mesa's revenue. The court hearing that could trigger a Chapter 11 filing is next week.

Hawaii mortgage rates have FALLEN in the past week. The Honolulu Board of Realtors reports some local lenders are back down to 5-and-a-half percent and the rest are only slightly higher. APRs -- that's annual percentage rates, after all points and fees are added -- are well below 6%.

Governor Lingle has signed the scrap metal bill. House Bill 2589 stops copper thieves from getting fast cash for stolen copper -- by requiring that scrap dealers and metal recyclers pay for scrap copper by CHECK.

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