TV PRICES, after dropping for four years, are now climbing back up again. Philco touched it off by boosting 1955 models by $10 to $20 a set because of higher costs, has been quickly followed by others, including both Emerson and Admiral, which announced price cuts when they introduced new sets this summer.

URANIUM STRIKE in Wyoming may turn into one of the biggest yet. Part-time prospector and Machine-shop Operator Neil McNeice hit a rich ore deposit 45 miles east of Riverton. American Smelting & Refining considers the area so promising that it will operate with the AEC a uranium-buying station at Riverton.

BRITISH AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY whose prestige was hard hit when its Comet I jetliner was grounded after a series of disasters (TIME, May 10), is due for another blow. The government-owned British Overseas Airways Corp., which had hoped to replace its American equipment with new British planes, is negotiating with Douglas Aircraft for ten DC-7s, to be powered by British turboprops, for its future fleets.

OIL LEASES to federal land, on the seaward side of the submerged lands awarded the states by Congress last year, are finally being sold to private oil companies. The Government has leased 97 tracts (total: about 300,000 acres) ten miles or more off the Louisiana coast to 25 private operators for $130 million. Highest bid: $6,100,-000 by San Antonio's Forest Oil Co. for a promising 5,000-acre tract near Timbalier Island, La.

GERMAN AUTO PRODUCTION has climbed to a new high, will wind up 1954 a record 30% above last year. The September total: 63,364 cars and trucks, 5,000 more than the previous high in March.

PAPER INDUSTRY is in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission over prices. The FTC has issued a cease-and-desist order to the National Paper Trade Association, 22 regional associations, and 100 individual distributors of fine paper (stationery, bond, etc.) and wrapping paper. The charge: that they have combined to establish and maintain price schedules for their products.

GAS-HEATING BOOM has helped push the gas industry into the nation's sixth biggest business, says American Gas Association President Earl H. Eacker, who predicts that producers will spend $3.5 billion (total industry assets: $13.5 billion) on expansion for natural gas alone over the next four years. By the end of this year, 14 million U.S. households will be heated by gas, with another 1,000,000 new customers coming in each year.

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING is now completely owned by Colonel Henry Crown, who has bought the last batch of outstanding stock. His outlay for the world's tallest building: $49.5 million. Crown will now spend another $3,000,000 for improvements, including air-conditioning the entire building.

ATOMIC-PLANE ENGINE is being pushed by the Air Force. Pratt & Whitney will soon start construction with the Air Force on a $30 million nuclear lab at East Hartford, Conn., to speed development of the engine.

WILLYS MOTORS, which was shut down last June, starting rumors that it was going out of business (TIME, Aug. 2), will stay in automaking at least through 1955. Company is now tooling up for 1955 production, plans to introduce its new model around the end of the year.

ONE-DAY FLIGHTS from the West Coast to Europe via the North Pole will start Nov. 15. The Civil Aeronautics Board has given Scandinavian Airlines permission to fly the polar route between Los Angeles and Stockholm (TIME, June 14).

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