PSC ADDRESSES TECO CONTRACT: The Florida Public Service Commission opened two days of hearings Thursday on whether Tampa Electric Co. should be permitted to pass on to customers the costs incurred from its coal-transport contract with fellow TECO Energy Inc. subsidiary TECO Transport. The PSC staff, the state Office of Public Counsel and consumer groups argue that the pact charges excessively high rates. During an opening statement, TECO attorney Lee Willis defended the contract as competitive and in compliance with PSC directives. Attorneys for both sides began examining expert witnesses and will continue today.
KASH N' KARRY CELEBRATES MOVE: Kash n' Karry celebrated the move of its corporate headquarters Wednesday in Tampa. The supermarket chain, which is renaming itself Sweetbay Supermarkets over the next four years, moved executive offices to Sabal Park in east Tampa. The company's offices had been on Harney Road in Tampa. The new offices will house more than 80 employees. Kash n' Karry, part of the Belgian Delhaize Group, plans to open its first Sweetbay stores in fall.
RITE AID EX-EXEC GETS 8 YEARS: Former Rite Aid Corp. CEO Martin L. Grass was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday for conspiring to falsely inflate the value of the company his father founded and cover up the scheme. Grass, 50, who headed the nation's third-largest pharmacy chain in the late 1990s before being forced out in 1999, also was fined $500,000 and given three years' probation for his role in a billion-dollar accounting fraud that sent Rite Aid's stock tumbling.
SOUTHWEST OFFERS EARLY RETIREMENT: Southwest Airlines said it's offering voluntary early retirement to any of its 31,522 employees who have been with the company at least a year to help reduce costs. The program is available through June 25, spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said. Southwest has not laid off workers in its 33-year history. The offer was requested by workers, CEO Jim Parker said in a memo to employees. Southwest, the only major U.S. carrier to remain profitable since the 2001 terrorist attacks deepened a travel slump, had a 10 percent rise in total first-quarter costs, led by labor expenses.
EMPIRE FINANCIAL PUT ON NOTICE: Empire Financial Holding Co. said Thursday it has received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the commission's investigation into trading of mutual fund shares. The notice indicates that SEC staff members intend to recommend that the agency begin enforcement action against the firm and chairman and CEO Kevin Gagne, said Empire, a financial services company based in Longwood. Gagne has taken an unpaid leave of absence pending resolution of the SEC investigation, Empire added.
CITIGROUP PENALIZED $70-MILLION: The Federal Reserve announced a $70-million penalty against Citigroup Inc. and a subsidiary regarding practices related to borrowers taking out riskier, higher-interest rate "subprime" personal and home-mortgage loans. Citigroup and its Baltimore subsidiary CitiFinancial Credit Co., a consumer finance company, while not admitting any wrongdoing, agreed to the penalty and to take steps to ensure compliance with federal lending regulations and enhance compliance with consumer protection laws.
AETNA SUES AIDS DRUG MAKER: Aetna Inc. has sued pharmaceutical maker Abbott Laboratories Inc., accusing it of seeking a monopoly on AIDS drugs by raising the price of its drug Norvir by 400 percent. In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the health insurer cited Abbott's decision in December to raise the wholesale price for 120 100-milligram Norvir capsules from about $206 to $1,028. Norvir was not a major AIDS drug on its own, but is increasingly used in small doses to boost the potency of some AIDS combination-drug therapies.
