CHICAGO -- Attorney General Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager of Wisconsin and Attorney General Tom Miller of Iowa have jointly asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to examine whether some gasoline wholesalers or retailers in their states are taking advantage of the situation in Iraq by unjustifiably raising prices.

In a letter sent to FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, the attorneys general noted that the American Automobile Association (AAA) had said, according to the AGs, that companies are “coming dangerously close to price gouging.” As reported in CSP Daily News in mid-February, AAA spokesperson Geoff Sundstrom, reacting to gasoline price increases at that time, said the situation “looks uncomfortably close to price gouging.”

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Dairy Mart Convenience Stores Inc. has received confirmation of a Chapter 11 plan that calls for the dissolution of the company, said Dow Jones. Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan signed an order confirming the plan Wednesday.

Dairy Mart filed the plan in November 2001. The debtor company has said it will take about six months to wind down its business once the plan goes into effect.