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When a Tennessee woman was ordered by a judge to make good on $1,100 in bad checks, she employed her own brand of creative financing and robbed a bank. According to Reuters, Paige Morphis left the courthouse after a hearing on Monday on a bad check charge, used a handgun to hold up the First State Bank in her nearby hometown of Rives, Tenn. and fled into a cornfield. "A teller in the bank recognized her and a search was started in the cornfield,'' said Obion County chief deputy sheriff Heath Cunningham. Morphis eluded the search party, returned to the courthouse and paid off the bad checks, Cunningham said. "Then she went home where we arrested her. We also confiscated about $7,000 left from the bank's money."

Heber, Fuger, Wendin is shortening its duration while buying selectively into the corporate sector, says Donald Jeffery, portfolio manager with the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based asset management firm. Jeffery says the firm's average duration is 1.80 years and he aims to shorten it to 1.40 years. The average maturity of the portfolio is less than three years and new purchases have carried 15- to-18-month maturities. In order to capture additional yield, Jeffery watches current versus historical spreads and hits the areas that seem to trade wider. He likes, for instance, the finance sector, because bonds of finance companies trade wider and offer more room for further tightening. As an example, he cites the purchase--at a 90 basis point spread over treasury--of Ford Motor Credit 6.12% '03 (A2/A). Last Monday, the bonds were trading at a price of 101.78. Jeffery mentions that the firm uses new cash or portfolio rollovers to finance its purchases.

James Investment Research, a manager of individually managed portfolios in Alpha, Ohio, is preparing to extend duration by half a year to one year on the view that the economy will not begin to pick up for another six to 12 months. Tom Mangan, portfolio manager of $300 million in taxable fixed-income, says he is concerned about the effect the high levels of corporate and individual debt, problems in Argentina, a slowing economy in Germany and a recession in Singapore will have on the U.S. economy. He says that if weekly jobless claims totals stay above 400,000 this week and next, he will extend duration on the view that the Federal Reserve will cut rates by more than the 25 basis points the market currently anticipates. Mangan says James will extend duration by selling callable agencies and short-term Treasuries to buy 10- to 30-year Treasuries, non-callable agencies and high-grade, non-callable corporate paper. Mangan says that at 3.66 years most of James' portfolios are exactly neutral to the Lehman Brothers Intermediate Government Credit Index.

ABN AMRO is in the market with a $250 million acquisition credit for Milpitas, Calif-based LSI Logic. The spread on the new revolver is LIBOR plus 13/4 % and the company is BB-/Ba2 rated. A spokesman declined to provide a date for when syndication will close. Calls to officials at ABN AMRO were not returned by press time.

Vanguard Health Systems has scored a Ba3 rating for its $150 million senior secured credit facility, which is currently in syndication, and a B3 rating for an upcoming $200 million note offering. Russell Pomerantz, v.p., senior analyst for Moody's Investors Service, said good asset coverage supports the credit-facility rating, explaining the disparity between the notes and loan ratings for the owner and operator of acute health-care hospitals. Calls to the company, located in Nashville, Tenn., were not returned.

Pricing on a planned $175 million term loan "B" for Apria Healthcare Group jolted up from 2 3/8 % to 3% last week after Apria disclosed that a government investigation into the company's Medicare billing practices could put it on the hook for claims ranging from $4.8 billion to more than $9 billion. The Bank of America-led deal was over-subscribed and allocations close to completion before the disclosure last Monday, noted one banker.

Bob Barmore has been promoted to managing director and head of loan sales for Société Générale replacing Kevin Meenan, who left July 13 to become head of distribution at ABN Amro. Meenan and an official from ABN AMRO did not return calls. Barmore, who's been with the firm for three years, was a director of loan sales. There are no hires planned in conjunction with the promotion. Barmore did not return calls for comment.

BNP Paribas in New York has hired Brian Leach as an associate. He will work in the firm's asset-backed commercial paper conduit program. Leach, who is scheduled to start in August, will report to Sean Reddington, director and group head asset securitization. He moves over from State Street Capital in Boston where he was a senior associate in the conduit department. Leach was not available for comment. Reddington says he may hire more ABS experts in the coming months. A banker at BNP says David Brunner, ceo of the fixed-income department, is looking at hiring CDO experts for the firm's U.S. based CDO operations. Brunner was travelling and unavailable for comment.

Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase are holding one-to-one meetings with banks for a $1.3 billion credit forAmeriSource-Bergen , the distributors of pharmaceuticals and related healthcare products and services. A banker said the credit is set to go into retail syndication next week. Pricing on the pro rata is LIBOR plus 13/4 %, and consists of a $1 billion revolver and $300 million "A" term loan. Calls to officials at AmeriSource were not returned by press time.

Primedia closed a $1 billion credit facility in late June, replacing a seven-year facility. Jim Magrone, senior v.p. of investor relations, said the company pursued the new deal now because of favorable market conditions. "Among the considerations for the new bank facility was the company's desire to extend the amortization schedule out in time, the fact that interest rates are very favorable and bank debt is available, and to provide additional liquidity," he said. He declined to explain any changes to the covenants or pricing on the new deal.

Sinclair Broadcasting's "B" paper traded at 1005/8 last week, which is up slightly from previous levels. In a slowing economy, broadcasting companies have been hit by lower ad revenue, but dealers say the credit levels are strong. "Sinclair is still challenged by weak advertising, but they just came out with reasonably good numbers," a dealer said. Pointing to other strong paper in the sector, he noted Paxson Communications' deal is trading at 101 and Emmis Communications' credit is trading at 101 1/4. Calls to Sinclair in Hunt Valley, Md., were not returned.