1.   Ballard, a Republican, said the TAAS has spurred unhealthy competition, pressure on students and possibility of fraud.

2.   Both CalEnergy and Magma benefited from earlier state and federal laws intended to spur competition in the electric power industry.

3.   A federal appeals court on Friday ordered regulators to reconsider two important rules intended to spur competition in the local phone and high-speed Internet markets.

4.   Brazil will temporarily drop import tariffs on some telecommunications equipment to spur industry competition ahead of a massive expansion of mobile telephone systems, a government official said.

5.   But state regulators and federal agencies are starting to chip away at the walls between these cozy domains, hoping to spur competition and bring rates down.

6.   Cereal price cuts are also sweeping Europe, as joint ventures between U.S. and European cereal makers have spurred competition.

7.   Congress this year failed to pass legislation intended to spur telecommunications competition among local, long-distance and cable industries.

8.   Conventional wisdom holds that privatization and deregulation spur competition.

9.   Efforts to spur competition in local markets have lagged partly because of a court challenge.

10.   Efforts to spur competition in local markets lagged partly because of a court challenge.