Window Air ConditionersA window air conditioner can offer welcome relief on a hot day. Window units are an excellent choice for many homes because they're versatile and fairly easy to install.Before purchasing a window air conditioner, measure your window to ensure that you get the right size unit. Another factor to consider is your window's closing orientation. Many window air conditioners have side expansion panels to accommodate vertical windows, but you may have to build your own barriers if your window opens horizontally.It's also important to figure out how much cooling power you'll need. Determine the square footage of the room you want to cool, then figure out how many BTUs you'll need to cool your space.With Every Day Low Prices on air conditioners and other heating, cooling and air quality supplies, Walmart has you covered. Tarrant County’s two big pawnshop companies — Fort Worth-based Cash America International and Arlington-based First Cash Financial Services — said Thursday that they will merge to create an industry leader.

The new company, to be called First Cash, will be based in Fort Worth at the home of Cash America, off West Seventh Street near downtown. Once the all-stock transaction has closed, the new entity will have more than 2,000 locations in four countries and an estimated market value of $2.4 billion, the companies said.Rick Wessel, chairman and CEO at First Cash, will become vice chairman and CEO of the combined company. Brent Stuart, president and CEO at Cash America, will become president and chief operating officer. And Dan Feehan, the longtime former CEO at Cash America who is now chairman, will be executive chairman of the merged company. “Both companies have strong brands, broad market presence and teams of talented people,” Feehan said in a statement. “This is an exciting opportunity to redefine leadership in our industry.”Cash America, founded in 1983, is the largest pawnshop chain in the U.S., with nearly 900 lending locations in 20 states. First Cash, founded in 1988, is the No. 3 player in the U.S., with more than 330 stores, but also operates 936 pawnshops in Latin America, where it has been growing.

In 2014, it acquired 47 locations in Mexico from Cash America.According to a report last year from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business, Cash America controls more than 14 percent of the U.S. pawnshop market, while First Cash has close to 5 percent. Executives said the companies’ retail operations are complementary, with little overlap of stores or markets. They plan to continue operating the two chains under their existing names and don’t anticipate closing stores. “This basically picks up 12 new states for First Cash. It picks up six new states for Cash America,” Stuart said. But there could be some job cuts as the companies consolidate headquarters operations. Executives estimated that the merger will produce $50 million in cost savings within 24 months. About $35 million of that “will come from areas that you would typically expect when combining two organizations, including areas involving technology platforms, finance and other administrative functions,” Doug Orr, chief financial officer at First Cash, said during a conference call with analysts.

Cash America has about 245 employees at its Fort Worth headquarters near the Trinity River, and First Cash has 88 employees at its current home on East Lamar Boulevard in Arlington.Executives decided to place the new company in Fort Worth because Cash America owns its building there and has available space. lg room air conditioner home depot“We’re just renting our space in Arlington,” Wessel said. auto air conditioning repair yuba city ca“It only makes sense that we’ll be migrating 15 miles down the road to Cash America’s building.”air handling unit attenuatorThe deal calls for Cash America shareholders to receive 0.84 share of First Cash stock for each share they own. After the transaction, First Cash shareholders will own about 58 percent of the combined company, and Cash America shareholders will own 42 percent.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016.With federal, state and local regulators further restricting payday lending in recent years, Cash America and First Cash have retreated from that business to focus on their pawn stores. Pawnshops, where consumers borrow against jewelry and other belongings, are expected to be exempted from new payday lending restrictions that the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to unveil this spring.The announcement came as Cash America announced first-quarter earnings of $10.6 million, up 36 percent from 2015 when it logged reorganization expenses. Consolidated total revenue increased 2 percent to $277.2 million.On Wall Street, Cash America (ticker: CSH) gained a penny a share to close at $40.71. First Cash (ticker: FCFS) also gained a penny to $48.70. This report includes material from Bloomberg News.Woman accused of online fraud A 60-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with obtaining items fraudulently and then pawning them at various places and pocketing the cash.

A 60-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with obtaining items fraudulently and then pawning them at various places and pocketing the cash.Cynthia H. Crockett was arrested at her Ocala residence shortly before noon Thursday and charged with 13 counts of dealing in stolen property, 13 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, 13 counts of violating pawnbroker act, four counts of fraud and two counts of forgery.Crockett remained at the Marion County Jail on Friday with bail set at $166,500.According to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office report, a loss prevention officer at Designer Shoe Warehouse called a Sheriff’s Office official on May 12 to report that Crockett was making shoe purchases online with credit cards and picking up the merchandise at one of the chain's Ocala stores, and others in Gainesville.The DSW official said the company began receiving "charge backs" from the credit card companies indicating that the victims did not authorize the purchases. At the time of the report, there were 18 successful charges, 11 of which had already been charged back to company, which meant the actual credit card holder had challenged the charges with the credit card company.

The credit card company has given the customer credit, leaving the store as the victim.Marion sheriff's detectives received video of Crockett entering the Ocala store to pick up the fraudulent purchases.Further investigation by detectives showed that on May 9, two air conditioning units were pawned at a pawn shop. The units, brand new, had stickers on the boxes that showed they came from Lowe’s in Ocala.A prevention officer was contacted at the store and detectives were told that the ACs were bought online and delivered to an address later identified as Crockett's. One of the units was delivered to the address on May 7 and the second on May 8. They also discovered that on May 3, another Lowe’s had delivered an AC to the same address.On May 16, detectives were told about another Internet purchase. An AC window unit, under a woman’s name, was delivered to Crockett’s address.Checking Lowe’s records, officials found out that Crockett had made several fraudulent purchases online using people’s names and credit cards and had the items delivered to her residence.