PRICE INDEX TICKS UP: The Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation gauge, rose by 0.5 percent, more than double December's 0.2 percent increase, the Labor Department said Friday. Much of the jump was blamed on sharply higher energy prices, economists said. Excluding energy and food prices, the core rate of inflation increased by 0.2 percent in January, up from 0.1 percent in December, suggesting prices for many goods and services remain fairly stable.
BLACK SAYS HE WAS RAILROADED: Conrad Black, the embattled newspaper tycoon, struck back at his board of directors Friday, testifying that he was railroaded into stepping down as CEO of his publishing empire and agreeing to return payments he received from the company. Black testified he wasn't given enough time to respond to charges from the board of Hollinger International Inc. that he and other top executives improperly received about $16-million in payments that hadn't been authorized. The outcome of the trial may well determine the fate of Hollinger's newspapers.
GREENSPAN WARY OF "PROTECTIONISM': Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, entering the debate over shipping U.S. jobs overseas, warned Friday that "protectionist cures being advanced ... will make matters worse rather than better." Jobs have become a big issue on the campaign trail as 2.2-million have been lost since George W. Bush became president. Greenspan told the Omaha, Neb., Chamber of Commerce that upgrading educational opportunities for low-skilled workers in America was the best way to deal with global competition.
CLINIC'S RECORDS SEIZED: Florida insurance regulators seized records from a Tampa medical clinic Friday and arrested its three owners on charges of organizing a scheme to defraud, insurance fraud and grand theft. The seizure comes after a four-month investigation into the Medical Rehabilitation Center at 3430 W Lambright St. Arrested were Lev Vybinov, 53; Boris Pismichenko, 50; and Greg Morkhalyov, 48. Investigators said the three schemed to solicit accident victims and bill insurance companies as much as $100,000 for services never rendered. More arrests are expected.
LIQUIDMETAL TO RESTATE: Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., which moved to California from Tampa at the end of last year, said it will restate revenues for the third and fourth quarters of 2002 and the first quarter of 2003. The restatement is related to the sales of alloy melting and casting equipment to Growell Metal, a former supplier and licensee. In January, Liquidmetal settled a contract dispute with the supplier.
TAMPA LANDMARK SOLD: A Chicago realty has bought the landmark SunTrust Financial Centre in downtown Tampa. Terms were not disclosed for the sale, which included two acres adjacent to the building at 401 E Jackson St. CMD Realty Investors bought the 36-story tower from the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association. CMD said Trammel Crow will remain leasing agent for the 527,000-square-foot center, which is 88 percent leased. CMD also owns Centres Feather Sound, a 63,000-square-foot office building off Ulmerton Road in Pinellas County.
BofA SETTLES CLASS ACTION: Bank of America Corp. will pay $33-million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by trustee beneficiaries in a 10-year-old dispute over fees, the bank and the plaintiffs' attorney said Thursday. The bank has paid $36.6-million to settle other portions of the case and refunded $42-million in 1993-94. An Oakland, Calif., judge has given preliminary approval to the settlement.
TENET EX-EXEC GETS $148-MILLION: Tenet Healthcare Corp. will pay $148-million to former executive John C. Bedrosian after the California Supreme Court refused to review the case, the company said. Bedrosian was co-founder of National Medical Enterprises, which later became Tenet Healthcare. After he was fired in 1993, Bedrosian claimed stock benefits.
TSA, JETBLUE DIDN'T BREAK LAW: Federal employees who persuaded JetBlue Airways to give a defense contractor personal information about 1.5-million passengers - without their knowledge or permission - will have to undergo training about privacy issues. Employees of the Transportation Security Administration broke the spirit, but not the letter, of federal privacy laws, said Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly concluded that the TSA didn't violate the law because it never possessed the data. But, she said, JetBlue wouldn't have turned over the information unless TSA had asked.
PERDUE CLOSES IN PANHANDLE: De Funiak Springs will lose its largest private employer with the announcement Friday that Perdue Farms Inc. will close a 392-employee chicken processing plant, effective April 21, and also will end contractual agreements with 48 poultry producers in Florida and southern Alabama, company officials said. Last month the company bought the former Cagle's Inc. processing complex in Perry, Ga., for $45-million. Production from De Funiak Springs will move to Perry and other facilities that are more efficient, Perdue Farms chairman Jim Perdue said.
BANKERS REJECT ROLE IN PARMALAT: Leading Italian bankers on Friday played down their responsibility in the near collapse of dairy giant Parmalat, rejecting suggestions that financial institutions must have known the real state of the fraud-ridden company's finances before the scandal erupted. Financial institutions contend that they too were tricked by the fraudulent accounts at the multinational conglomerate, which came to light in December.
Earnings
Z-Tel Technologies Inc.: The Tampa telephone company said its net loss in the quarter ended Dec. 31 widened from a year earlier as operating expenses rose to $78.7-million, from $62.1-million. Z-Tel said the number of phone lines it manages more than doubled to 528,000 in 2003 from 258,000 in 2002. The company attributed most of the line growth to its relationship with Sprint.
