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In brief

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 5, 2006

Susan Pareigis starts this month as the executive director of the Florida Council of 100, the nonprofit business advisory group whose high-powered board includes Outback Steakhouse's Chris Sullivan. Pareigis, leaving a job in Tallahassee as head of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, replaces Charles Ohlinger, who is retiring after 10 years on the council, which is based in downtown Tampa.

Publix in Dunedin to include liquor store

Publix Super Markets Inc. plans to open its first Tampa Bay area liquor store on May 11. The Lakeland supermarket chain, which began testing a liquor store concept two years ago and had five such stores in Florida as of Dec. 31, will open one adjacent to its grocery at 1493 Main St. in Dunedin. Bay area competitors Kash n' Karry and Albertsons operate liquor stores in the bay area.

Online parody video complies with request

A Tampa company whose music video parody of corporate corruption drew a lawsuit threat has softened its stance. Maverick LLC posted a notice on its Web site Thursday, clarifying that Cleveland's Jones Day law firm had no connection to Arthur Andersen or Enron and calling Jones Day "among the most respected law firms in the world." Maverick managing partner Bill Stark had said he meant to flatter Jones Day by its inclusion in the video, but the law firm demanded he remove the video from Maverick's Web site and destroy all hard copies.

Ex-franchisee seeks to countersue Checkers

A 62-store franchisee recently dumped by Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. for not paying its bills sought court permission Thursday to file a countersuit. The proposed suit by Michigan-based Titan Holdings LLC alleges that Checkers' board, executive team, investment banker and future acquirer used deception to illegally gain possession of Titan's locations. Titan said Checkers' shareholders are entitled to a buyout price of roughly $17.50 per share, not the $15 per share offered by Taxi Holdings Corp. A Checkers spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Weak month for Outback, Carrabba's

OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. said April same-stores sales fell 2.6 percent at domestic Outback Steakhouse locations, the chain's third-biggest monthly decline since at least 1999. Meanwhile, April same-store sales fell 1.6 percent at OSI's Carrabba's Italian Grill chain, the largest monthly drop since at least 2000. Wall Street analysts, noting weak April sales across the casual-dining sector, said rising gas prices may have been partly to blame.

CORRECTION

Equal Pay Day was April 25. A column on Page 3D Thursday stated a different day.

[Last modified May 5, 2006, 05:55:02]