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By TIMES WIRES
Published September 12, 2006

Congress wants answers in HP case

As Hewlett-Packard meets to decide the fate of chairwoman Patricia Dunn, above, lawmakers look into tactics used by the company to obtain phone records.

State Farm looks to fill job openings in Florida

Responding to growth in the Florida market, State Farm Insurance will host its first-ever job fair from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the company's Winter Haven operations center. The largest auto insurer in the state, with about 20 percent of the market, State Farm wants to hire about 200 employees in its auto and fire underwriting and claims divisions, as well as other departments. One unit on the downswing is property insurance, where State Farm is No. 2 statewide with about 940,000 homeowner policies, down from about 1.1-million last year. In July, the company won approval for a 52 percent statewide property insurance rate hike.

WellCare subsidiary sues state of Indiana

A subsidiary of Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans has sued the state of Indiana, alleging the government improperly excluded it from a $4.4-billion contract to provide health insurance for the poor. The subsidiary, Harmony Health Plan of Indiana, said its bid for a share of the contract would have succeeded if the state hadn't disregarded its own rules and criteria.

Former Tyco executive faces tax charges

A former Tyco International tax executive surrendered Monday on charges that he filed a false company tax return in 1999 that failed to report about $170-million in income. Raymond Scott Stevenson of Delray Beach pleaded not guilty to the single charge, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As Tyco's vice president for taxation, Stevenson was the company's top tax adviser in 1999 when he allegedly oversaw a series of transactions intended to reduce its state tax liability. That caused a capital gain of $170-million for Tyco that was not reflected on its tax return that year, prosecutors said.

T-bill rates mixed

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction, with the rates on six-month bills increasing while the rates on three-month bills fell to the lowest level since mid June. The Treasury Department auctioned $18-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.820 percent, down from 4.855 percent last week. An additional $16-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.935 percent, up from 4.920 percent last week.

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[Last modified September 11, 2006, 23:46:33]