Airlines
Northwest Airlines pilots gave union leaders the authority toconduct a strike vote if there is no progress in negotiations overwage and benefit cuts the airline is seeking, the union head told aNew York bankruptcy court.
Mark McClain, chairman of the pilots union's master executivecouncil, testified that employees do not want a strike but acrimonybetween the airline has grown 'over time,' with many workersresenting the company's charge that labor costs are at the root ofthe carrier's problems.
LEGAL
Pacific Gas and Electric agreed to pay $295 million to settle aseries of lawsuits alleging that the utility sickened hundreds ofpeople by contaminating the water in three California counties.
The settlement affects about 1,100 people in Kings, Riverside andSan Bernardino counties.
About 100 to 150 people still haven't settled, PG&E spokesman JonTremayne said.
The complaints allege that PG&E exposed neighboring homes to watercontaminated with chromium 6, a possible carcinogen, from the late1960s through the mid-1980s. PG&E acknowledged that some of itsworkers learned about the presence of chromium in the water wellsduring the 1960s but didn't alert the company or the communities.
INTERNET
A file-destroying computer worm variously named 'Nyxem.D,''MyWife.E,' 'Blackmal.E,' 'Kama Sutra' and 'Blackworm,' which was setto activate yesterday, caused relatively little damage in Asia andEurope, although one Italian city shut down computers as aprecaution.
APPOINTMENTS
Advancis Pharmaceutical said Edward M. Rudnic would no longer beboard chairman but would continue as president and chief executive.
Rudnic, a co-founder of the Germantown drug firm, will be replacedas chairman by R. Gordon Douglas Jr., an infectious-disease expertwho has served on the company's board since 2000.
Advancis is developing a new extended-release version of theantibiotic amoxicillin, though the product and the company havesuffered several setbacks of late.
Shares of Advancis closed yesterday at $1.95, up 11 cents.
MEDIA
Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, faces a potentialcredit rating cut by Moody's Investors Service because of decliningperformance.
Ratings on about $500 million in Dow Jones commercial paper may bedowngraded after a review, Moody's said.
AUTOMOTIVE
Design changes in sport-utility vehicles and pickups have reduceddeaths in cars struck by the large vehicles, a study says.
The number of deaths of drivers in cars caught in side-impactcrashes with SUVs dropped nearly 50 percent when automakers loweredthe height of SUVs or added impact-absorbing bars below the frontbumpers, said the report by the Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety.
Ford Motor will end production of the $150,000 GT sports car thisyear and will not build the Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin, a 390-horsepower sport-utility vehicle.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Town & Country Trust, an owner of apartment complexes mainly onthe East Coast, said it received a superior takeover offer fromOriole Partnership, giving a group led by Morgan Stanley a chance tomatch the bid.
Oriole Partnership, a venture of Essex Property Trust, UBS WealthManagement and AEW Oriole Co-Investment, bid $36 a share, higher thanthe $33.90 a share offered by affiliates of Morgan Stanley RealEstate and Onex Real Estate. Morgan Stanley's offer is valued at $1.3billion including debt.
INSIDER TRANSACTIONS
L-3 Communications Holdings chief executive Frank C. Lanza plansto sell 1.53 million of the company's shares by exercising stockoptions that will expire next year.
Lanza will sell about 110,000 shares each month for the next 14months, the New York company said in a statement.
STOCKS
Archer Daniels Midland said it is increasing its cash dividend toshareholders. The company plans to pay a dividend of 10 cents -- anincrease of 1.5 cents per share -- on March 10 to shareholders ofrecord on Feb. 17.
Wendy's International reported a $30 million profit for its fiscalfourth quarter, in contrast with a loss of $141.4 million in thecomparable period a year earlier. Revenue for the three months endedJan. 1 edged down to $977.3 million from $977.8 million.
For the year, earnings were $224.1 million, up from $52 million.Revenue rose 4 percent to $3.78 billion.
Same-store sales, a key measure of a retailer's performance, fell3.7 percent at its Wendy's restaurants.
Compiled from staff and news service reports
