Business Today

CUBA FERRY UNLIKELY: The owner of a ferry running from Tampa to Mexico said he's close to scuttling plans for weekly cruises to Cuba from Tampa. Scotia Prince Cruises said last month it applied for federal licenses to operate the trips from Feb. 25 through the end of April. But the Treasury Department still hasn't responded, making it unlikely the service could start before the ship returns to Maine for the summer, company chairman Matthew Hudson said.

LOFTS IN TAMPA: An Atlanta developer plans to build 42 lofts near the Hillsborough River on the north edge of downtown Tampa. Miles Properties expects to break ground in May for the $6-million project called the Arts Center Lofts on Doyle Carlton Drive, north of Laurel Street. One-bedroom units will start at $129,900 and two-bedroom units at $189,900.

LUCENT NAMES CHAIRWOMAN: Lucent Technologies Inc. has named president and CEO Patricia Russo as chairwoman of the telecommunications equipment maker. Russo, 50, retains the CEO title and succeeds Henry Schacht. Schacht, 68, is to remain as an outside member of Lucent's board. Russo's promotion comes 13 months after she returned to the Murray Hill, N.J., company after serving as president and chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak.

JUDGE ALLOWS IPO LAWSUITS: A federal judge ruled that legal claims brought by thousands of investors alleging fraud in initial stock offerings during the technology stock bubble can proceed. U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin said the plaintiffs presented "a coherent scheme by underwriters, issuers and their officers to defraud the investing public" by concealing, through misinformation, various tie-in agreements, undisclosed compensation and analyst conflicts to artificially boost the value of the new shares. Investors allege the value of their holdings plummeted as a result of the alleged fraud in connection with 309 initial public offerings of stock, including those of shares in theglobe.com, Global Crossing and MP3.com.

AOLTV ABANDONED: After a dismal consumer response, America Online has stopped selling its interactive television product, AOLTV. AOL will continue to support current subscribers who use the product, which allows users to surf the online service and send e-mail from their televisions, AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley said. She would not say how many subscribers the service had. Bentley said AOL shifted its interactive television development into AOL Broadband, which allows high-speed AOL subscribers to watch video and other high-bandwidth content that accompanies existing television shows.

S&P 500 TOO ADD AUTONATION: AutoNation Inc., the largest U.S. car retailer, will be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, replacing Rational Software Corp. which is being acquired by International Business Machines Corp. AutoNation of Fort Lauderdale will be added after IBM's acquisition of Rational Software is approved by European regulators, Standard & Poor's said in a news release.

U.S. NEAR DEBT LIMIT: Expecting to reach the national debt ceiling of $6.4-trillion today, the government took steps Wednesday to allow federal borrowing to continue while Congress considers raising the debt limit. Treasury Secretary John Snow wrote congressional leaders urging quick action to raise the ceiling, though he did not recommend a new limit. "Together we must continue working to enact an increase in the statutory debt limit as quickly as possible to avoid any negative repercussions at home or abroad," Snow said. His request will set off a fresh debate in Congress that could last for weeks. In the meantime, the Treasury Department will use a variety of techniques to keep government borrowing within the debt limit so the United States is not forced to default on any of its debt obligations, something that has never occurred before.

DISCRIMINATION SETTLEMENT: Nissan's financing arm has agreed to stop marking up loan rates offered to minority buyers under a proposed settlement of a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. also agreed to tell car buyers their interest rate may be negotiable. The agreement seeks to settle a 1998 lawsuit by 10 black and Hispanic car buyers from Tennessee and Florida who said NMAC charged them higher interest rates on car loans than whites with similar credit ratings. Under the deal, NMAC would also pay $5,000 to $20,000 to each plaintiff plus $1-million to America Saves, a Washington-based consumer agency. Lawyers said the suit involved about 125,000 plaintiffs.

FCC GRIDLOCK: A weeklong delay in a vote on phone competition rules apparently did not resolve deep divisions at the Federal Communications Commission over rolling back requirements for companies to share access to transmission networks. On Feb. 10, FCC Chairman Michael Powell postponed the vote until today, hopeful he could win over a third commissioner on the five-member panel for a plan favored by the regional Bells. Negotiations continued Wednesday, but industry officials and observers said they expected no change in the commissioners' positions. The vote is the commission's last chance to meet a court-ordered deadline to rewrite the policy before existing rules are struck down.

HACKER BLAMED IN CARD INCIDENT: A hacker who gained access to millions of credit card numbers apparently did it by breaking into a computer system at a company that handles transactions for catalog companies and other direct marketers. Data Processors International in Omaha, Neb., said "an unauthorized outside party" tapped into its computer system, prompting a criminal investigation. A company spokesman refused to comment on when the hacker gained access and how many account numbers were compromised. Credit card companies and the Secret Service have said that as many as 8-million account numbers were accessed. The card companies said they were notified of the incident early this month.

MCDONALD'S SUED AGAIN: McDonald's Corp., the world's largest hamburger chain, was sued for hiding the health risks of Chicken McNuggets and other foods high in fat, salt and cholesterol, just weeks after a judge dismissed a similar lawsuit by obese children. In dismissing the complaint brought by two New York City children on behalf of all youngsters in the state last month, U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet invited the plaintiffs' attorney, Samuel Hirsch, to file a new suit emphasizing deceptive advertising claims. Hirsch filed an amended complaint targeting "deceptive practices" in McDonald's promotion and distribution of its food. McDonald's called the new suit "senseless" and "a serious disservice to anyone who is looking for real answers and information about healthy lifestyles."

TREASURY AUCTION: The interest rate on the U.S. Treasury's four-week bills was unchanged at the government's weekly auction of the securities. The Treasury sold $20-billion of the bills at a discount rate of 1.155 percent, the same as a week earlier. The return to investors was 1.174 percent for the four-week bills.

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