East Hartford usually buys five to 10 Ford Crown Victorias each year to replace the most worn and beaten-up cars in its fleet, but police administrators won’t be asking for any in the 2009-10 budget, department spokesman Officer Hugo Benettieri said. City leaders have not declared a freeze on buying cars next year, but they have laid off workers this year as the city faces the start of an uncommonly tough budget-setting season next month. Front-line cruisers in Hartford’s fleet of more than 50 marked Crown Victorias generally get put aside as reserves when they reach 50,000 miles, but that’s likely to edge toward 70,000 miles by the end of next year if the city doesn’t keep up with replacing cars, McKoy said. The city still has enough cruisers available every day to deploy its full patrol force, but McKoy said he hopes city administrators will work to cut red tape that holds up replacement of demolished cars for months. read more

PITTSBURGH — More charges have been filed against two suspects in a car auction scheme that is allegedly centered around a city of Pittsburgh employee. Donald Matthew Tollan and Donald Mathias Tollan were charged with identity theft and criminal conspiracy on Monday. Michael Livingstone, a performance auditor for the city, is accused of rigging the auctions so his accomplices would bid high amounts for the vehicles but pay much less, police said. Get Your Experian, Equifax & Transunion Credit Report See All 3 National Credit Scores & Reports Instantly and Online for free! read more

No spin seems too far for the organisers of a classic car auction where 60 vehicles dating back to the 1920s will be sold. Consumers are holding on to their pennies everywhere, but the auctioneers Coys, who hope to sell a 1929 Chrysler for more than £150,000 at an event tomorrow, are trying to use the credit crunch to their advantage in their advertising. As if the credit crunch didn’t create enough anxiety, one more source of gloom seems to be out there. An unexpected consequence of the recession has been a surge in online Christmas shopping at work by underemployed staff, according to the internet bank Ivobank. That will be the same Merrill Lynch that advised on RBS’s overpriced acquisition of Charter One in the US, the Bank of China stake, and the buy-up of ABN Amro that weakened capital and added £2bn to first-half writedowns. read more