U.S. markets tumble ... Luxury jets flew pleading execs to Capitol ... Massachusetts tops state economic ranking ... Sun-Times Media to return to private hands ... News from United Press International.

SAN DIEGO -- Luxury home values in the San Diego area dropped 2.1 percent in the third quarter of the year compared with the second quarter, and 7.5 percent from the third quarter of last year, a private banking, business banking and wealth management services firm reported Wednesday.

U.S. markets tumbleNEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes tumbled Wednesday as the U.S. Department of Labor said the consumer price index fell 1 percent in October.The largest drop in the inflation rate in 61 years indicated the U.S. economy had slowed dramatically. Housing starts were also down, off 4.5 percent in October compared with September.Among active stocks, Citigroup Inc. shares ...

California luxury home prices declined in the third quarter of 2008 from a year ago and from the second quarter of 2008, according to the First Republic Prestige Home Index by First Republic Bank, a leading provider of private banking, private business banking and wealth management services.

In this week's issue: CalPERS housing program loses $3.1 billion. Thomas Properties Group presses courts for needed $100 million from Lehman Bros. Non-performing matured loans boosting CMBS, CDO delinquencies. Rivals Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE thinking...

The warehouse club's third-quarter earnings beat the Street as Americans sought out discounts.

Home sale prices in North Central Washington continued to resist the widening collapse elsewhere in the country, dropping far less than statewide numbers - and there was even a bright spot: Grant County, where home sale prices rose, according to a report released Tuesday.

BALDWIN PARK - City officials say Bisno Development Co. is pulling out of a contentious, multimillion-dollar plan to revitalize more than 100 acres of downtown, citing the economic downturn.

If you're searching for a sign that the financial crisis is no longer a national emergency, then look no further than Congress-which appears to have returned to business-as-usual mode.

SPOKANE-- Home sales prices in Washington dropped 10.4 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year in the sharpest decline since the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University began keeping statistics in 1994.