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Southwest Airlines Co. — the third-largest carrier at Denver International Airport by passenger count — has announced that parents of minors traveling alone will have to pay $50 to fly their children in the airline's "unnaccompanied minors" program. That is up from the previous price of $25 per child.

Southwest (NYSE: LUV) plans to use funds generated from the added cost to help pay for expenses associated with caring for an unaccompanied minor.

In addition, the Dallas-based airline has plans to roll out a section on its website where parents can book their unaccompanied minors online. This is intended to save parents time by eliminating paperwork at the airport. The online service will be available April 23.

"We continuously evaluate our UM process to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to our young customers who are traveling alone," said Teresa Laraba, Southwest's senior vice president of customer services. "During a recent audit, we identified several opportunities, including the creation of an online booking tool for UMs and an enhancement in the employee training that comes along with handling our young passengers who are flying solo."

Unaccompanied minors on Southwest flights are children ages five to 11 who are traveling without an adult passenger.

In other Southwest news, the airline said it has terminated its codeshare agreement with WestJet, nixing a deal that had promised Southwest its first taste of international business.

If the agreement had withstood the test of time, it would have landed Southwest a link to international status by connecting the airline's service to WestJet flights heading to Canada.

DIA low-fare competitor Frontier Airlines offers service to Mexico and Costa Rica.

Southwest said WestJet had asked to modify its initial 2008 agreement with Southwest, and the airline could not “agree with the modifications to the confidential agreement.”

The Southwest-WestJet deal went sour earlier this month when WestJet announced it could be entering into a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines. At the time, Southwest sounded the alarm, saying it had heard that Delta, as part of the deal, might transfer slots at New York’s LaGuardia to WestJet.

Southwest indicated that an agreement with another carrier could hurt the deal Southwest and WestJet had in place.

"We prefer the existing terms of our agreement with WestJet,” said Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning Bob Jordan. “Upon reviewing the number of changes that WestJet has requested, we have decided that it is in the best interest of both parties to move forward independently.”

Southwest added it’s still interested in exploring opportunities to enter into the Canadian market, adding that partnerships with other Canadian carriers remain a possibility.

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In a move aimed at combating the spread of diabetes, insurer UnitedHealth Group is launching a new program that will pay for lifestyle coaching at YMCA facilities.

Under the proposal announced Wednesday, the insurer will cover 16-week programs at the YMCA that discuss changes in eating, exercise and other lifestyle habits.

As part of the program, UnitedHealth will also pay incentives to Walgreens’ pharmacists to teach people how to better manage the disease.

Insurers such as UnitedHealth may start rolling out more such preventative care programs as the government’s health care overhaul forces insurers to cover patients regardless of medical condition.

UnitedHealth said it will pay YMCA lifestyle coaches based on performance, so coaches get paid more for recruiting more participants into the program, and for helping those participants achieve greater weight loss.

The company said studies funded by the government show that pre-diabetes patients can prevent or delay the disease by 58% simply by meeting in group coaching sessions, changing eating and exercise habits, and losing about 5% of their body weight faxless pay day loans.

UnitedHealth claims its program marks the first time a health insurer will cover "evidence-based" preventative diabetes care.

"The pilot data showed that paying for these services works — people get and stay healthier, leading to dramatically lower health care costs for employers and the health care system," Tom Beauregard, executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, said in a statement.

UnitedHealth will first roll out the program in 7 cities, including 3 in Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. The other cities are Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.

The program is free to people enrolled in UnitedHealth care plans through their employers. 

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Devereux Kids has been awarded $200,000 in federal funds for its community-based education, support and reunification program aimed at increasing the safety and well-being of children.

The funds will be used to expand the organization’s child abuse and neglect prevention programs in Marion County, but may be expanded to other areas, according to a Devereux release.

Devereux Kids, established in 1999, is a program of Orlando-based Devereux Florida. Devereux Kids works in 10 counties in Florida and reached more than 1,100 children in 563 families in the 2009 fiscal year. The foundation supporting the organization was founded in 1912 in Pennsylvania and created Devereux Florida in 1987. Devereux Florida helps more than 13,000 children annually.

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In its third round of venture funding, Achaogen Inc. raised $56 million.

The San Francisco company seeks drugs to fight bacteria that are resistant to existing drugs. It’s also working on drugs aimed at bubonic plague and other bugs attractive to possible terrorists.

Frazier Healthcare Ventures, a new investor, led this round and put Robert More on Achaogen’s board of directors.

Alta Partners, 5 AM Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Domain Associates, Venrock Associates, Versant Ventures and the Wellcome Trust also gave money.

Kevin Judice is CEO of Achaogen.

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The Dow and S&P 500 ended at fresh 18-month highs Thursday, but tech concerns limited the Nasdaq composite’s gains ahead of a long weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 70 points, or 0.7%, ending at 10,927.07, its highest close since Sept. 26, 2008, when it ended the session at 11,143.13. The blue-chip indicator rose to within 43 points of 11,000, a key psychological indicator, before pulling back.

The S&P 500 index (SPX) gained 9 points, or 0.7%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 5 points, or 0.2%.

Stocks rose through the early afternoon as investors welcomed reports showing the pace of job losses is slowing and manufacturing is picking up both in the U.S. and abroad. The advance briefly lost steam in mid-afternoon, before picking up again near the close. Stock markets will be closed for Good Friday, although Treasury markets will have a shortened session.

Weaker-than-forecast readings on private-sector employment and manufacturing dragged on stocks Wednesday at the end of an up quarter, in which the Dow gained 4.1%, the S&P 500 gained 4.9% and the Nasdaq gained 5.7%.

Stocks have been on the rise since mid- February, as worries about a global debt crisis have given way to renewed optimism about the economic recovery. All three major stock indexes have risen in six of the last seven weeks.

On Thursday, reports showed that weekly jobless claims continued to slip, U.S. manufacturing continued grew at the fastest pace since 2004 and construction spending retreated. Reports coming out of China and the United Kingdom showed manufacturing activity picked up the pace in March.

"The initial claims number shows we are seeing shows slow and steady improvement in the jobs market and the manufacturing numbers are providing reassurance about the global economy," said Jim Baird, chief investment strategist at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

However, he said Wednesday’s weak report on private-sector employment and the still relatively high weekly jobless claims numbers over the last few months show the jobs market is not recovering enough to spark economic growth.

"To get a good number tomorrow would be a strong indicator that we are moving toward a period of job creation," Baird said.

Jobs market: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell last week to 439,000 from 445,000 in the previous week, matching the lowest level since August 2008. Forecasts were for 440,000 claims, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

The Labor Department report also showed that continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a year or more, fell to 4,662,000 from 4,668,000 the previous week. Economists thought continuing claims would fall to 4,618,000.

A separate report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that planned job cuts rose in March. Employers said they were planing to cut 67,611 jobs in March, a rise of 61% from February’s 42,090 cuts.

The biggest employment report of the week is Friday’s March jobs report from the government. Employers are expected to have added 190,000 jobs to their payrolls in March after cutting 36,000 in February. The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, is expected to hold steady at 9.7%.

Manufacturing: The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing indexrose to 59.6 in March from 56.5 in the previous month. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected a reading of 57.

February construction spending fell 1.3% after falling 1.4% in January, according to a Census Bureau report released in the morning. Economists thought it would fall 1%.

Company news: BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) slipped after it posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that rose from a year earlier, but missed forecasts due to weaker-than-expected phone shipments.

The company also issued a fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue forecast that was better than expected. But shares fell Thursday as analysts and investors expressed worries that the company is not keeping up with Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).

Primerica, Citigroup’s soon-to-be spun-off life insurance division rallied more than 20% in its first day of trading as a public company.

Autos: General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) were among the automakers reporting improved sales in March, although forecasts were short of more bullish analyst estimates released earlier in the month.

Ford said sales rose 40% versus earlier forecasts for a gain of 55%. GM said sales rose 21% versus forecasts for a gain of 27%.

Overall auto industry sales were expected to rise sharply in March in comparison to a weak period a year earlier.

The dollar and commodities: The dollar gained versus the euro and fell against the yen.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $11.60 to settle at $1,126.10 per ounce.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $84.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close for crude since October 2008.

Bonds: Treasury prices tumbled, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.86% from 3.83% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

World markets: In overseas trading, European markets rallied. Asian markets ended higher as well.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers eleven to four on volume of 930 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners five to four on volume of 2.28 billion shares.  

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A little more than a year after the Phoenix Business Journal reported that DeVry University was looking to open a campus in the West Valley, the school has chosen a spot in Glendale’s Westgate City Center.

DeVry will begin offering classes in July in about 18,000 square feet at 6751 N. Sunset Blvd., Glendale. This will be DeVry’s 95th location in 26 states and Canada, and its fourth in Arizona.

Plans call for offering undergraduate degree programs through its colleges of Business & Management and Engineering & Information Sciences.

DeVry’s Keller Graduate School of Management also will offer a number of master’s degree programs in business and technology in Glendale.

DeVry is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Jeff Blake, who served most recently as dean of Keller’s Phoenix campus and dean of graduate studies for the Phoenix metropolitan area, has been named dean of the Glendale campus. Before joining DeVry in January 2003, he was director of organizational development for Schwab University in Phoenix.

For more: www.devry.edu.

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