Sales

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next month on a bill that could require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in every state that imposes them. The measure has been bashed by opponents as a tax increase that would cripple small Web businesses. It's not, and it won't. Instead, the Marketplace Fairness Act would eliminate an outdated restriction that favors those who can shop online over those who can't or won't. That's reason enough for it to become law. For much of the last two decades, Internet retailers collected sales taxes only from customers in the states where they were headquartered or had employees.

Ever wanted to own something that previously belonged to a celebrity? Teri Hatcher's celebrity yard sale and auction on Saturday offers up that chance.  Hatcher is to preside over the sale of new and used items from stars includng Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Vanessa Williams, Al Pacino, Jason Alexander, Ray Romano, Katey Sagal and more. Proceeds are earmarked for the Juvenile Arthritis Assn. The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Americana at Brand , 889 Americana Way, Glendale.

Shares of biotech giant Amgen Inc. slumped Wednesday as investors reacted to weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales. Shares of the Thousand Oaks company dropped $6.41, or nearly 6%, to $106.35 in trading Wednesday. The company's stock had posted impressive gains until this week, up 65% in the last year. Amgen reported first-quarter results after the markets closed Tuesday. Its net income rose 21% to $1.4 billion, or $1.88 a share, from $1.2 billion, or $1.48 a share, a year earlier.

The epic miniseries “The Bible” booked the top spot once again in DVD and Blu-ray sales last week, while the just-arriving “Life of Pi,” until now not available in all retail outlets, took the top rental spot. Here are the top-selling and renting discs for the weeks ending April 13 and 14, respectively, according to Rentrak. TOP 10 DVD & BLU-RAY SALES 1. “The Bible (The Epic Miniseries)” | Fox | Week 2 2. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” | Warner Bros | Week 4 3. “Lincoln” | Disney | Week 3 4. “Les Miserables” | Universal | Week 4 5. “Wreck-It Ralph” | Disney | Week 6 6. “Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers” | Disney | Week 2 7. “Life of Pi” | Fox | Week 5 8. “Rise of the Guardians” | Paramount | Week 5 9. “Parental Guidance” | Fox | Week 3 10. “Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season” | Warner Bros | Week 8 TOP 10 D VD & BLU-RAY RENTALS 1. “Life of Pi” | Fox | Week 5 2. “Zero Dark Thirty” | Sony | Week 4 3. “Lincoln” | Buena Vista/Disney | Week 3 4. “Argo” | | Warner Bros | Week 8 5. “Red Dawn” | MGM | Week 6 6. “Killing Them Softly” | Anchor Bay/Starz | Week 3 7. “Wreck-It Ralph” | Disney | | Week 6 8. “Rise Of The Guardians” | DreamWorks Week 5 9. “Skyfall” | Fox | Week 9 10. “The Collection” | Lionsgate | Week 3 ALSO : Zach Braff tries to Kickstart...

Oliver Woolley raises pigs north of San Diego and has been selling Mangalitsa pork at his tiny Peads & Barnettsafter stall at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. That includes Mangalitsa pork chops, shoulder, leg roast, ground pork and spare ribs, among other parts. Now he'll be selling jars of lard rendered by Jessica Koslow's Sqirl cafe.  The Mangalitsa pig is a Hungarian breed known for the quality of its fat (the name means "hog with a lot of lard"), and Koslow has been making Mangalitsa lard -- creamy, porky lard -- for her East Hollywood cafe since she received her first half-pig from Woolley.

Shares of biotech giant Amgen Inc. slumped as investors reacted to weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales. Shares of the Thousand Oaks company dropped $7.83, or 7%, to $104.93 in trading Wednesday. The company's stock had posted impressive gains until this week, up 65% in the last year. Amgen reported first-quarter results after the markets closed Tuesday. Its net income rose 21% to $1.4 billion, or $1.88 a share, from $1.2 billion, or $1.48, a year earlier. But analysts and investors focused much of their attention on Amgen's revenue growth, which came in lower than Wall Street's expectations.

Sales of newly built homes notched gains last month. Builders in March sold single-family homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 417,000, according to the Commerce Department. That was 1.5% over the prior month and 18.5% above the same month a year earlier. The median sales price for new homes was $247,000 last month. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale last month was 153,000 units. That represented a supply of about 4-1/2 months at the current sales rate.

With rare bipartisan support, the Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that could lead largely to the end of the nation's long online sales tax holiday. The measure would allow states to require that large online retailers collect sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, closing a loophole that has benefited the likes of EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The White House gave the legislation its approval Monday, and it passed a key procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin consideration of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final vote expected in a few days.

Actor Nick Nolte's celebrity pedigree home in Malibu is for sale at $8.25 million. Among former film and music industry figures to own the house are comedian Tommy Chong, Don Felder of the Eagles and music producer David Foster. Set in the Bonsall Canyon area on two acres studded with sycamore and pine trees, the main house features  19-foot vaulted ceilings, skylights, six fireplaces, marble floors and mahogany French doors. There are four bedrooms including the master suite, which has its own sitting area, office and library, and two of the fireplaces.

Buick, the General Motors nameplate, is celebrating 110 years, dating back to 1903, when the first Buick was hand-built in a small barn behind Scottish-born David Dunbar Buick's Detroit home. "Consistency, longevity, reliability. Those are the words that come to mind when you talk about Buick," Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum, said in an interview. That's apparently still true. In the latest J.D. Power & Associates survey on customer service, announced last month, Buick finished third, behind GMC and Mini.