Starbucks launches digital music service

Starbucks’ latest brew is a custom blend of digital music.

The coffee retail giant said Monday it would begin selling digital music downloads on CDs to customers at 10 of its stores in Seattle later this spring. It plans to roll out the service to 2,500 of its roughly 5,400 U.S. stores during the next couple of years. Employees at the Lawrence store said there were no plans to offer the service.

The company is betting the service, which made its debut Tuesday at its revamped Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica, Calif., will draw interest from music fans among its customers.

Patrons will be able to browse through a collection of about 150,000 tracks. They will be charged $6.99 for the first five songs and $1 for every individual track after that.

Above, customers listen to the service Tuesday in Santa Monica.

Construction

Housing starts drop

The number of housing projects commenced by builders declined for the second straight month in February as bad weather in some parts of the country forced construction delays.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the number of residential buildings under way fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.86 million units in February, representing a 4 percent decrease from the previous month.

Even with the declines, both January and February’s levels of activity were still considered healthy, economists said.

Topeka

Kansas task force on wind energy to meet

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ Wind and Prairie Task Force will have its final “working meeting” on Friday.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. at the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Learning Center in Topeka.

The task force plans to conduct public hearings during April. The group is in charge of making recommendations to help Flint Hills communities develop wind energy and preserve the tallgrass prairie.

Kansas City, Mo.

H&R Block confirms trading investigation

Kansas City, Mo.-based H&R Block on Tuesday said brokerage subsidiary H&R Block Financial Advisors could face disciplinary action for improper trading in mutual funds.

NASD, the securities industry’s self-regulatory body, has “preliminarily determined” to recommend action against the subsidiary in connection with market-timing activities that took place “primarily in one of HRBFA’s offices,” H&R Block said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The leading U.S. tax preparer said its subsidiary was conducting its own internal investigation.