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HEALTHSOUTH GUILTY PLEAS: Two more former HealthSouth Corp. executives pleaded guilty, admitting they falsified company records to aid an alleged $2.5-billion accounting fraud. Richard Botts, ex-senior vice president in the tax department, acknowledged inflating assets on federal and state tax returns. Jason Brown, a former vice president of finance, admitted to hiding the sale in 2001 of $27-million in stock of another company. Botts and Brown are the 12th and 13th former executives to plead guilty; all are helping federal prosecutors in an investigation of former CEO Richard Scrushy.

BIG CONFERENCES in '08: The Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau has signed two sizable conferences for the Tampa Convention Center in 2008. The American Association of School Administrators conference will book 14,000 room nights. The National Association for Bilingual Education conference is 8,300 room nights. Room nights equal the number of convention delegates times the number of nights they stay.

EEOC RULES AGAINST ALLSTATE: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that Allstate violated federal age discrimination laws when it refused to let some agents take lower-paying jobs elsewhere in the company to keep their benefits. The latest development involves just 40 or so of the 6,200 agents who were told they had to choose between becoming independent contractors and leaving the company. More than 90 percent of the agents were older than 40.

MCI WANTS REST OF DIGEX: MCI has begun an offer to buy the shares of Web-hosting company Digex Inc. that it doesn't already own for about $18-million. The former Worldcom received bankruptcy court approval about three weeks ago to take its offer to Digex shareholders. MCI already owns about 61 percent of Digex common shares and 94 percent of voting rights. If the offer succeeds, MCI will merge Digex with Intermedia Investment, the Tampa company it bought in July 2001 mainly to acquire its controlling interest in Digex.

BOMBARDIER SELLS REC PRODUCTS: The founding family of industrial giant Bombardier Inc. teamed up with a U.S. investor Wednesday to buy the company's recreational products division for $860-million. Laurent Beaudoin, chairman of Bombardier and son-in-law to the founder and snowmobile inventor J. Armand Bombardier, said the deal will help Bombardier focus on its core business while the newly independent recreational products company has a strong future of its own. The recreational products division of 7,500 employees, which has yet to be named, makes the Ski-Doo snowmobile and Sea-Doo watercraft, along with all-terrain vehicles, Rotax engines and the Johnson and Evinrude outboard motors.

PRUDENTIAL ANALYZES OUTBACK: Prudential Equity Group initiated coverage on five restaurant corporations Wednesday, including Outback Steakhouse Inc. of Tampa. But while analyst Larry Miller rated fast-food chains McDonald's and Wendy's a "buy," he placed a "hold" rating on Outback and fellow casual-dining companies Darden Restaurants and Yum! Brands. Miller wrote that the fast-food giants are better positioned to capitalize on a consumer shift from fast food to fast casual. Sixteen Wall Street firms now cover Outback, with 11 of them rating its stock a "hold" and five a "buy." Its stock rose 23 cents Wednesday to close at $37.61.

MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS PLUMMET: An index of applications for U.S. mortgages fell last week to the lowest in 14 months as mortgage rates stayed close to their highest in a year, an industry report showed. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America's measure of mortgage applications declined 13.3 percent to 638.6 last week, the lowest since June 2002. The refinancing index fell 21.3 percent, the eighth straight weekly decline. Since a high in May refinancing has declined 78 percent, the biggest three-month drop since the group started keeping data in 1990.

GRASSO GETS EXTENSION: The New York Stock Exchange extended chairman and chief executive Dick Grasso's contract Wednesday in a deal that included $140-million in previously accumulated savings, retirement benefits and other incentives. The payout drew immediate scrutiny from critics as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission. In an unusual public comment, the SEC said it was "looking into the details" of Grasso's package. SEC chairman William Donaldson, Grasso's predecessor at the NYSE, has said the nation's stock exchanges must lead by example in setting standards for corporate governance.

MUSICLAND CUSTOMERS SUE: Musicland Stores Corp. is being sued by customers who claim they were misled about an offer for "free" copies of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Customers of the company's Sam Goody, Suncoast and Media Play music stores say they were offered eight free issues of the magazine, a brand of AOL Time Warner Inc., though they were not told that their credit cards would be charged for subsequent issues if they did not call to cancel. The lawsuit, filed in Musicland's hometown of Minneapolis, seeks to represent thousands of other customers around the country whose credit or debit card information was disclosed to AOL Time Warner.

BAXTER, BAYER SETTLE: Baxter International Inc., the world's largest maker of blood disease treatments, settled a lawsuit accusing Bayer Corp. and a former employee of stealing trade secrets about Baxter's products. The lawsuit was "amicably resolved," said Baxter spokeswoman Deborah Spak. Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. Baxter claimed Gopal Dasari, a former Baxter Healthcare Corp. scientist who joined Bayer in May, copied files on Baxter's products for hemophilia, cancer and kidney disease.

LOCKHEED, AIR FORCE SETTLE: Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay $37.9-million to settle charges that it inflated costs on several Air Force contracts, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Lockheed spokeswoman Meghan Mariman said the company did nothing wrong. The government accused Lockheed of overcharging on four contracts and intending to use the extra money to offset cost overruns on other Air Force projects. The charges were initially brought in Orlando by a former company employee, Albert Campbell, who will receive $8.8-million under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act.

SEARS EXPECTS GAINS: Sears, Roebuck and Co. said recent gains in appliance sales may lead to its first positive monthly sales results in two years. The company said sales at stores open for at least one year are exceeding earlier expectations of flat results for August. Officials attributed the bump in sales to its new appliance marketing program, citing better prices, a price-match policy, a revamped appliance department and broader selection of "take-home-today" items.

Brown-Forman Corp.: The maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey and other liquors, Wednesday said profit for its latest quarter fell 14 percent because of weak sales and costs from settling a distribution lawsuit. Brown-Forman, which also makes Lenox china, Hartmann luggage and other goods, said the lawsuit settlement with Diageo Great Britain Ltd., a subsidiary of Diageo PLC, reduced earnings by 11 cents a share.